geomaticsworld 2014...copy dates are: editorial: 11 augustadvertising: 21 augustnext issue the next...

GeomaticsWorld JULY/AUGUST 2014

The mapping andcharting heroes of

D-Day

Is sustainableurban expansion

really possible?

The dawn of anew era for UK

geospatial

3D model heraldssmart city approach

for Glasgow

FIG engages withthe challenge to

enhance relevance

Issue No 5 : Volume 22

Surveying for geographical and spatial information in the 21st century

FREE DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION FOR PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS see page 3

shapingthe future

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2014 GW shaping the future final.indd 1 17/04/2014 12:42:51

Copy dates are: Editorial: 11 August Advertising: 21 AugustNN EE XX TT II SS SS UU EE The next issue of GW will be September/ October 2014.

p.05 Editorialp.06 Newsp.08 Calendarp.09 Chair’s Columnp.10 Undercurrents

p.31 Policy Watch & RICS @ FIGp.34 Downunder currentsp.35 Legal Notesp.36 Products & Servicesp.38 Recruitment & Classified

Geomatics World is published bi-monthly by PV Publications Ltd on behalf of the Royal Institutionof Chartered Surveyors Geomatics Professional Groupand is distributed to group members and othersubscribing professionals.

Editor: Stephen Booth

Technical Editor: Richard Groom

Advertising: Sharon Robson

Subscriptions: Lucy Casserly

Editorial BoardIan Coddington, Pat Collins, Professor Ian Dowman,Richard Groom, Alan Haugh, James Kavanagh,Professor Jon Mills, Dr Stuart Robson, Dr Martin Smith

Overseas SourcesRoy Dale – New ZealandNick Day – USA

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July / August 2014 Geomatics World 03

Contentsp.12 Imaging the Banqueting House ceiling

A new and cost effective approach for high-resolution digital recording in thehistoric sector is described by John Hallett-Jones.

p.16 Temporary Development ZonesA solution to the informal settlements that drive urban sprawl in developing nations ison hand, argues Dr Alexander Kohli.

p.20 FIG 2014 Kuala LumpurA Malaysian feast of geomatics and surveying with over 2,500 delegates from 99countries; the FIG Congress did not disappoint reports Richard Groom.

p.22 GEO: Business – a gamechangerAn enthusiastic response to the call for papers resulted in a set of qualitypresentations well worth the attendance fee reports Richard Groom.

p.25 RAF Hendon hosts historic aerial imagery exhibitionJohn Leatherdale reports on a visit to the new “Britain from Above” exhibit at the RAFMuseum, Hendon. It was also an opportunity for some to learn about the Wild A5-50.

p. 26 The greatest mapping project everSeventy years ago military surveyors and hydrographers were engaged in a life ordeath struggle. Richard Groom examines the work they did for D-Day and after.

p.28 Glasgow’s smart urban modelSmart cities are a hot geospatial topic. Marguerita Cavello describes the complexmodel now being used of the city of Glasgow.

p.32 Mapping for war and peaceThe centenary this year of the outbeak of the First World War is an opportunity totake stock of Ordnance Survey’s heroic contribution to the campaign.

COVER STORYAn unusual applicationfor geomatics isreported by JohnHallett-Jones. Theceiling of theBanqueting House inWhitehall has beencaptured in sub-millimetre resolutionusing automatedpanoramic imaging.Turn to page 12.

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Editorial


in the same direction. GEO Business is a fittinglegacy to the events that my company started18 years ago initially as World of Surveying andlatterly as GEO. The industry now has a solidfocus for moving forward.

The best laid plans. . .Finally, literally as we were going to press, newscomes of the UK government’s decision toabandon plans to sell off the Land Registry (seethis issue’s News on page 06). This is not justgood news for the thousands of staff who workfor LR. It was always difficult to view theproposed sale as anything other than the fag endof a series of ideology-driven fire sales by variousgovernments over the last quarter century. Thecash it would have brought in - £1.2bn wassuggested – is a drop in the ocean of debt thegovernment holds on behalf of UK citizens. Aprivatised land registry would inevitably have putup fees to generate the profit it needs with littleevidence that new owners would have offeredbetter service. Whatever your experience with theLand Registry has been, just remember that it isaccountable ultimately to Parliament.

Any proposed privatisation of the LandRegistry’s complementary body, OrdnanceSurvey will raise even more complex issues thanthose it is already generating by its current plans(see News on page 06). For more on thiscontroversial topic look out for the next issue ofGIS Professional (first week of August). You canregister for a free digital subscription to GiSProat http://www.pvpubs.com/GISProfessional/Free

Enjoy the summer. Like Arnie we will be back!

The FIG Congress in Kuala Lumpur is animportant focal point in the calendar for allsurveyors. It provides a rare opportunity to

update current practice and technologies acrossall branches of what we collectively callgeomatics. James Kavanagh’s and Richard Groom’saccounts, while very different in style, set thescene from an event whose papers andpresentations from leading practitioners, opinionformers and leaders around the globe we willbe drawing from in coming issues.

This issue of GW is one where we lookback as well as forward. We couldn’t miss theopportunity to mark the historic juxtapositionof the D-Day and first world war anniversaries.Malcolm Draper’s Undercurrents column alsoincludes a tribute to a remarkable man – not asurveyor but an aviator – who neverthelesswas part of that generation, who survived thesecond world war, and in the 1950s and 60sled, moulded, mentored and trained many oftoday’s senior managers and leaders. We owethem much.

In looking ahead we have an article on anovel technique for an unusual area forgeomatics – the high resolution recording ofmurals on a ceiling in Whitehall, London. Thefirst time I believe the art of the painter Rubenshas featured in these columns. Dr AlexanderKohli proposes an interesting solution to helpplanners and land managers in the developingworld deal with the urban sprawl that comeswith informal settlements. His ideas should begiven serious consideration by many citiesaround the world. One city with a staunchtradition of fine buildings driven by carefulplanning is Glasgow. Marguerita Cavallo explainsthe development and application of theGlasgow Urban Model – an accurate 3D citymodel - which is now available for the city’smanagers, planners, politicians and citizens.

New era beginsGEO: Business has come and gone and was anextraordinary achievement. For once, four ratherdisparate bodies worked in close harmony topresent an outstanding conference; a realgame-changer as some have called it, heraldinga new era for geomatics. I am delighted thatthe event has been such a success because Iknow the enormous work put in by VershaCarter and her team in getting exhibitors toattend; I know they worked tirelessly with thosefour bodies to keep everyone on side and going

FIG forms a focaland reference pointfor our professionas technologydrives us forward.But there remainsmuch from the pastwe can draw on.

Looking ahead with a thankful nod tothe past

The editor welcomes yourcomments and editorialcontributions by e-mail: [email protected] by post:Geomatics WorldPV Publications Ltd2B North RoadStevenageHerts SG1 4ATUnited Kingdom

TEN YEARS AGOGW JULY/AUGUST 2004

Apart from marking the 60th anniversary of D-Day,the issue had a strong focus on rail. With articles onhow reflectorless EDM was enabling safe levelcrossing surveys, how laser scanning was helpingmodernise London Underground and the applicationof RTK GPS to the national rail network. For historybuffs, Ed Danson explained how Lewis & Clark’smapping endeavours were in vain and FIG’s workingweek for the year was in Athens near Tripods Street!RICS members and subscribers can view the issueonline. Log in at http://www.pvpubs.com/Login

Stephen Booth, Editor

NEWS

06 Geomatics World July / August 2014

The Wild-Leica storyHave you been a regular userof Leica equipment? Do youhave an interesting anecdoteabout an instrument or pieceof kit? Perhaps a recollectionof using a T2 underparticularly arduouscircumstances. . . ?Photographs especially willbe welcome. If so, LeicaGeosystems would love tohear from you. Your storymay feature in a history ofthe company currentlynearing completion in timeto mark the 50th anniversaryof the founding of WildHeerbrugg in the UK. Allcontributors’ tales publishedwill qualify for a free copy ofthe book, which will becopiously illustrated. Allcontributions must be

received no later than 21stJuly. For more details drop anemail to Nigel Bayford:[email protected]

Privatisation on the cardsThe Guardian newspaperreported on 5th May thatUK’s Land Registry is headingfor privatisation. Senior civilservants are said to bedeciding on either a jointventure between thegovernment and a privatecompany or letting a privatecompany run LR as aGovernment-ownedCompany (Gov Co). Such amove would, according toformer LR executives, allowthe private sector toadjudicate on possiblyconflicting interests between

sellers, buyers andneighbours. The governmenthas given assurances that anyproposals, including thestatus quo will be put topublic consultation beforeany decision is taken.Privatisation could net thegovernment just over £1bn.

Similar moves cannot beruled out for Britain’smapping agency, OrdnanceSurvey whose long-termbusiness strategy examineswhether a move to a Gov Comodel would be beneficial.The review will ultimatelydetermine which businessmodel will serve it best in thecoming years to enable it tocontinue to fulfil its publictask and wider industry roleas markets for geospatialproducts, services andsolutions continue to growsubstantially. As a Gov Co,OS would continue to be100% in public ownership,but it would enable theorganisation to become moreresponsive and flexible,keeping pace with rapidlychanging markets.

Coming on the back ofthe unannounced launch ofa “GeoIntelligence” unit byOSGB, which has beenseverely criticised by some inthe UK geoinformationsector, the move to a Gov Comay further inflame views ina private sector that firmlybelieves OS should stick to itslegal task of creating andmaintaining the nationaltopographical database.

GEO competitionThe Group on EarthObservations (GEO) has justlaunched the GEO Appathon2014, a global competitionto develop mobile apps tohelp people make smarterdecisions about theenvironment. GEO Appathon2014 is designed to createeasy-to-use Apps using Earthobservation data availablethrough GEO’s Global EarthObservation System ofSystems (GEOSS). GEOSS is aunique, web-basedclearinghouse that providesaccess to more than 65

million data records fromarchives spread across theglobe. (www.geoportal.org).

Apps will focus onaddressing environmentaland societal challengesfacing decision leaders andindividual citizens indeveloping countries acrossnine essential areas:agriculture, biodiversity,climate, disasters,ecosystems, energy, health,water and weather.Registration for thecompetition remains openuntil July 31st. QualifyingApps must be received byAugust 31. For moreinformation, visit:www.geoappathon.org

MapAction deploys toBalkans and ParaguayMapAction has deployed askilled volunteer to Belgradeto help coordinate theresponse in Serbia towidespread flooding in theBalkans. MapAction’svolunteer will be working inpartnership with the UnitedNations Disaster Assessmentand Coordination team fromtheir coordination centre inBelgrade. The team willprovide information to assessthe extent of the flooding,the affected population,infrastructure damage andhumanitarian needs, vital toassist humanitarian providersin their response.

The NGO has alsodeployed two volunteers toParaguay where days ofsustained heavy rains havecaused the Paraguay andParana rivers to swell leadingto widespread floods acrossthree ‘departments’, includingthe capital, Asunción.According to reports from theUN, approximately 160,000people have been affected.Rain is forecast to continuefor several weeks, so thereare concerns that thesituation could deterioratefurther.

New EO satelliteSurrey Satellite TechnologyLtd (SSTL) has successfulylaunched KazEOSat-2, a

Game changer heralds new era

The first GEO Business show in London’s Business Design Centrein May has been judged a resounding success by industryplayers. Derry Long, business development manager at MBSSurvey Software, described it as “the dawn of a new era for thegeospatial community”, while others commented “a gamechanger!” and “great to see the whole industry workingtogether for once!” Queues of visitors formed early for theopening of the two-day show and by the time doors closed, ithad welcomed over 1,600 attendees from 39 countries.

The event combined a bustling central trade exhibitionfeaturing 118 exhibitors showcasing the latest geospatialtechnology and services, with a packed conference programmeof keynotes and presentations plus 96 commercial workshops.

Versha Carter, group exhibition director of GEO Business, adds“there was a real buzz on the show floor and it was evident thatwe had gained the support from the community. There was agenuine sense of the industry coming together to connect andshare their experiences and methods – to see how they couldlearn from each other and improve the way they work”. GEOBusiness 2015 is scheduled for similar dates next year at thesame venue. For more on the event turn to our detailed reporton page 22.

NEWS


medium resolution Earthobservation satellite for theRepublic of Kazakhstan. Thespacecraft was launched on19 June into a 630km sun-synchronous orbit.

Commissioning is nowunderway of the 180kgKazEOSat-2 (formerly knownas KazMRES). It will deliver77km swath, multi-spectralimages with a resolution of6.5 metres for agriculturaland resource monitoring,disaster management andland use mapping. Thespacecraft is the medium-resolution element of a civilspace remote sensing systemthat also includes the high-resolution satellite,KazEOSat-1, built by AirbusDefence and Space.

Esri on G-Cloud 5FrameworkEsri UK, has been appointedby the Crown CommercialService to supply cloud-based GIS and services tothe UK public sector. UnderG-Cloud 5, Esri UK will offeran extended range ofservices that harnesslocation-based data, drivingnew innovations andefficiencies in the delivery ofpublic services.

Esri UK’s G-Cloud 5 usesa Software as a Service(SaaS) technology solutionand services in Lot 3 and Lot4, respectively, that make iteasier for buyers to find andpurchase. These includeMapping and GIS forenvironmental management,emergency management,health, asset managementand for schools admissions.Public sector organisationscan buy these servicesdirectly from G-Cloudwithout the need to do atraditional Office Journal ofthe European Union (OJEU)or invitation to tender; theopen procurement for eachof the G-Cloud frameworkshas already been done.

CityGML 3.0The Open GeospatialConsortium (OGC) seeksorganizations and

individuals to participate inthe development of the nextmajor version of the OGCCity Geography MarkupLanguage (CityGML). Seethe Call for Participation athttp://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/requests/119.Although responses to thecall for participation wererequested by 10th June, itwill remain open for theduration of the CityGML 3.0development process.

Spanish partnershipTopcon Positioning Spain hasannounced a partnership withthe Geodesy and SurveyingCollege of the PolytechnicUniversity of Madrid. A newclassroom has beenintroduced, where teachers,students and professionals,along with Topcon will sharedevelopment and knowledge,experiences and develop newbusiness through technologiessuch as instrumentationsystems and positioning andacquisition of 3D data.

Dr Jesús Velasco, directorof the Geodesy andSurveying College, has highregard for the Topconapproach and considers therelationship essential forquality training of studentswith the latest technology.

OGC Testbed 11The OGC has issued a call forsponsors for the 11th annualOGC location standardsinnovation testbed. Sponsorsof OGC testbeds providerequirements, use cases,business cases and fundingto support fast-pacedprototyping of internationalspatial interoperabilitystandards and best practices.

Early expressions ofinterest in Testbed 11 havecome from technology usersand technology providers insmart cities, aviation, lawenforcement, emergencymanagement, energy andutilities, climate, andconsumer apps. Manyinteroperability challengesremain and the OGC’sTestbed 11 is wide open tonew players and new topics.

Leica Geosystems has announced a contest to encourage creativethinkers to discover new ways of measuring by participating in thePegasus:Two Mobile Mapping Contest. The winner will receive freeuse of a Leica Geosystems’ Pegasus:Two for six months plus $10,000to spend on the project. All participants must submit a detailedproposal and a project timeline no later than August 31, 2014. Visit:http://www.leica-geosystems.com/pegasustwo_contest

$10,000 prize up for grabs

• To achieve earnings beforeinterest, depreciation andamortisation of £45.8million

• To achieve a customerindex score of at least 80%.

• To ensure that 99.6% ofsignificant real-worldfeatures greater than sixmonths old are representedin the database.

OGC tackles Big DataThe Open GeospatialConsortium (OGC) hasformed a big data domainworking group. Its aim is toprovide an open forum forwork on Big Data manage -ment, analytics and inter -operability. The group isbeing tasked to encouragecollaborative developmentamong participantsrepresenting manyorganizations andcommunities. The group willconsolidate findings on anOGC Big Data DWG publicwiki to inform OGCmembers and the public andallow for feedback duringand after document editing.Final reports will besubmitted to OGC forpublication as a BestPractice papers. The charteris available at

Standards for realpropertyECCMA (a not-for-profitInternational Association ofMaster Data QualityManagers) has finalised amemorandum of under -standing with the OpenGeospatial Consortium(OGC) to collaborate on thestandardization of electronicreal property informationand identifiers.

The primary area ofcommon interest is inadvancement of PropertyIdentification using ECCMA1Standards and KML. Thetwo organizations will jointlyinvestigate potential areas ofcollaboration for standardsdevelopment, standardsharmonization, outreachand education. The effortincludes the establishmentof a joint workgroup todevelop and promoteimplementation of thestandard under the nameePROP (electronic propertystandardization).

OS targets for 2014/15The following performancetargets have been agreedfor Great Britain’s OrdnanceSurvey for the financial year2014-15.

NEWS


http://external.opengeospatial.org/twiki_public/BigDataDwg/.

Location frameworkSpatial data users canexperience the power of theEuropean LocationFramework for the first timethanks to a new showcaseapplication. Launched at theINSPIRE Conference 2014,delegates were amongst thefirst to try out the pre-operational service, whichhas been released 8 monthsahead of schedule.

ELF is a technicalinfrastructure that will takeINSPIRE to the next level byproviding the practicalmeans for deliveringoperational cross-border andpan-European services. Thewebsitewww.locationframework.euconnects national dataservices from five countriesand includes pan-Europeangeo-information provided by45 national mapping andcadastral authorities viaEuroGeographics.

Speaking on behalf of theProject Consortium, technicalcoordinator Antti Jakobssonsaid: “There are many waysto connect to the platform,such as through Oskari orArcGIS Online, and we hopeboth business users andapplication developers willtry the service to experiencethe benefits for themselves.

3D city modelsCyberCity 3D has teamedwith UK aerial mappingcompany Bluesky, to create3D city models. Thecollaboration will seeCyberCity’s 3D’s proprietary3D building production withBluesky’s stereo aerialimagery. Access to Bluesky’smassive data library, covering150,000 sq km of off-the-shelf aerial photography,allows CyberCity 3D to gainaccess to urban centresacross the UK for 3D SmartBuilding production. Inaddition, Bluesky’sspecialization in theacquisition and processing ofaerial photography is a

perfect fit when new flightsare required to help increasethe client base.

Global spatial data nearerA global spatial datainfrastructure came a stepcloser recently following thesigning of a declaration ofintent between fiveorganisations from threecontinents. Led byEuroGeographics, the aim isto share knowledge andsupport worldwide demandfor consistent, authoritativegeospatial information whilstalso enhancing the individualcapabilities and organisationalcapacities of each signatory.Participants include CAF, theDevelopment Bank of LatinAmerica; the Pan-AmericanInstitute for Geography andHistory (PAIGH); and PSMAAustralia Ltd.

Teamwork updates chartsHydrographic surveyorsTeamSurv is doing arecruitment drive amongstthe marine community tobetter chart areas like thewest coast of Scotland,Weymouth and MilfordHaven. What began as an EUfunded research project andhas since developed further,both in terms of accuracyand also in coverage, withalmost 900 participants. Datais made available to allparticipants, as well as to theUKHO and other chartingagents, and to scientific andother users. Using a crowdsourced approach tohydrographic surveying, boatsand ships of all types andsizes are being recruited tolog data from their GPS anddepth sounders and toupload it to the TeamSurvwebsite, where it is correctedfor things like tides, to helpproduce enhanced maps ofthe bathymetry (depth ofwater) in the areas.

BRIEFS

Leica Geosystems’ parentcompany Hexagon has signedan agreement to acquireArvus, a manufacturer of

precision agriculture solutionsfor closer, more site-specificmanagement of the factorsaffecting crop production.Headquartered inFlorianópolis, Brazil, Arvus hasa portfolio of high-endequipment and softwaredesigned for precision farmingand the forestry industry.

With the RICS reporting thatsurveyors are dealing with thebiggest workload for morethan 20 years, SevernPartnership has experienced a12% increase in productivitysince embarking on a bespokechange managementprogramme with Midlands-based consultancy Clare HallOrganisational Development.The move followsDepartment for Business,Innovation & Skills (BIS)research which has found thatbusinesses that seek externaltraining and information are14% more ambitious and50% more successful.

Plowman Craven and itmsoilhave formed a strategicpartnership – iPC Monitoring.By working with PlowmanCraven itmsoil will becomeinvolved in projects at a muchearlier stage enabling thecreation of tailored, fit forpurpose monitoring schemes.

It will draw on the knowledgeof the site and the client’srequirements as definedduring Plowman Craven’sinvolvement in feasibility andpre-construction phases.

For those wanting to keepup-to-date with BIM, theBritish government’s BIMtask group now publishes aweekly newsletter - visitwww.bimtaskgroup.org

The BBC reports that, followinghot on the heels of a report onland reform, Registers forScotland has been tasked withcompleting the register of titlewithin a decade, with all publicland registered within fiveyears. The Scottish Land &Estates welcomed news of theproject but also warned it cantake years just to register oneestate and pronounced the tenyear target as “ambitious”.

Registration has opened for theinternational user conference,Trimble Dimensions to be heldNovember 3-5, 2014 at theMirage and the Treasure IslandHotels in Las Vegas. With over400 sessions, the conferencehas earned the reputation ofbeing one of the mosteducational and excitingindustry events. More atwww.trimbledimensions.com

EE VENTS CALENDARVENTS CALENDAR 20142014• SEMINARS • CONFERENCES • EXHIBITIONS • COURSES• SEMINARS • CONFERENCES • EXHIBITIONS • COURSES

12d International User Conference27-29 July, Brisbane, Australiahttp://www.12d.com/aus

RSPSoc 2014 Annual Conference2-5 September, Aberystwyth:http://rspsoc.aber.ac.uk/en/

Training Days: Total Stations8 & 9 September, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

Training Days: GPS/GNSS10 September, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

AGI - BIG Data30 September, Londonwww.agi.org.uk

Location Intelligence World 20147-8 October London UKwww.locationintelligenceconference.com

20th Intergeo 20147-9 October, Berlin Messehttp://www.intergeo.de/

AGI - Policy9 October Cardiffwww.agi.org.uk

Training Days: Total Stations13 & 14 October, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

Training Days: GIS Data Collection15 October, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

Trimble Dimensions 20143-5 November, Las Vegas, Mirage Hotelwww.trimbledimensions.com

GEO Comm: The changing face of Geo11-13 November, nr Warwickwww.agi.org.uk

Training Days: Total Stations24 & 25 November, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

Training Days: GPS/GNSS26 November, Stevenagewww.pvpubs.com/Training

GW welcomes advance details of events of interest to the Geomatics community.Details to: [email protected]


Geomatics PGB Chair

The late spring and early summer in theUK brings fresh growth and that seems tohave been the case in the survey industry

with many organisations reporting that theyare very busy.

It was also fantastic to see so many takingtime off from “the day job” to join us atGEO Business in late May. What transpiredwas for me one of the most encouragingevents I have seen in the industry for as longas I can remember. There was a real “buzz”about the event, from the openingwelcoming drinks to the well attended finalconference session. When I asked exhibitorsand delegates for a few words to describetheir thoughts about the event almost allwere generally positive. They ranged from a“Stride forward for the industry”,“Informative, bustling, dynamic andprofessional, long overdue,” “Engaging andreinvigorating,” “Vastly exceedingexpectation” and my favourite “GeoRocks!”

There did seem to be something foreveryone and it was pleasing to see the manyexhibitor workshops, in the main wellattended, as well as the main conferencesessions. My only regret was that I was unableto get to see all the items I wished as someclashed or the opportunity to catch up withindustry colleagues meant that I simply missedthem. So the task now is to build on thesuccess of this for next year’s Geobusiness thatwill be held during the same week of 2015 atthe same venue.

The conference papers raised manyquestions and produced many ideas andsound bites some of which are reportedelsewhere in GW by Richard Groom. For me Iliked Neil Ackroyd’s point about the“Democratisation of data,” David Phillip’sideas on the “Three geospatial tribes of CAD,GIS and BIM”. Which one of them are youin? Again with regard to BIM –CAPEX+OPEX= TOTEX. In other words stopthinking of these costs as separate and justclass them as one thing. Then there was theidea of Social BIM from Matthew McCarter(TfL) and Casey Rutland (Arup), sharing theknowledge of BIM through social media suchas Twitter #UKBIMCREW and LinkedIn. Doyou use these media?

The task ahead is tobuild on the successof GEO Business,says ChrisPreston, chair of theGeomaticsProfessional GroupBoard. Butmeanwhile there’scricket at Headingley(see above) to beenjoyed!

A buzz of an event wheregeo rocked!

Chris Preston welcomes your comments andthoughts so please email to the followingaddress [email protected]

My only regretwas that I wasunable to get tosee all the items Iwished as someclashed or theopportunity tocatch up withindustry colleaguesmeant that I simplymissed them.

‘‘

’’

One of the great things that GEO Businessshowed was what can be achieved when all inthe industry work together with a commonpurpose. Collaboration seems now to becoming to the fore very much more in ourbusinesses, whether it is collaboration in BIM orcreating so-called alliances of organisations,working together on a single project. This is notsomething new as most of us have seen theimpact of how working as a team acrossorganisational boundaries can be so much morethan the sum of the parts, providing a positiveworking environment without the adversarialattitudes that in the past have wrecked so manyrelationships. However, such businessrelationships require mature organisations thatare prepared to trust one another. Have we gotto this point yet in our industry?

Help for smaller businessesHow many of you are aware of the RICS smallbusiness hub on the RICS website? There are anumber of fact sheets produced for yourassistance. Please let me know what you thinkof these.http://www.rics.org/uk/knowledge/more-services/small-business-hub/small-business-toolkit/practice-management-factsheets-for-smes/

Those that seem useful include:Starting up a new business, Developing abusiness plan, Business development, Practicefinance, People management and a numberrelated to PII.

As ever, your thoughts welcomed to theusual e-mail.

MOVING ON ?If you receive GW as part of your RICS membership, youmust inform the Institution of a change of address – thepublishers of GW cannot change the RICS membershipdatabase for you. Call +44 (0)870 333 1600, login tothe RICS website or write to: RICS Contact Centre,Surveyor Court, Westwood Way, Coventry, CV4 8JE, UKor email [email protected] to GW can call +44 (0)1438 352617 oremail: [email protected]

Undercurrents


to them! To give you some idea of just howcold Felicity found it she demonstrated using afrozen carrot to hammer a nail in!

The town is host to a distinctly eccentriccharacter, “The Lord Keeper of the Cold” whowas bedecked in a colourful costume and isapparently visited by Santa Clauses fromacross the world to dispense a supply of“cold”! Remember where you read it first. Oh,and one useful tip from Felicity which you mayfind helpful when you’re out on site nextwinter: put your hand over your nose, it willhelp keep the rest of your body warm.

Around the world by hand and footI just love the weirdness and pure eccentricitythat RGS attracts. Another lecture, which alas Imissed, was by Jason Lewis who circumnavigatedthe world entirely by his own power – walking,swimming, pedalling, skating, rowing etc. Hetravelled over 74,000kms and took thirteen anda half years to do it!

Our Man of the YearBut for real guts and determination theUndercurrents’ Man of the Year Award mustgo to Eric “Winkle” Brown. Who he, you ask?Let’s start by giving him his full title: CaptainEric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, RN, CBE, DSC,AFC, Hon FRAeS. He served in the Fleet AirArm and was the first pilot to (successfully)land and take off a jet from an aircraft carrier.But there is so much more.

Inspired by a meeting at the Berlin Olympicsin 1936 and a flight with the WWI Germanfighter ace Ernst Udet, he decided his futurelay in flying but not before he went toEdinburgh University to study foreignlanguages and particularly German. Hereturned to Germany as an exchange studentin 1939 only to find himself arrested by the SSwhen war broke out. Luckily they released himand escorted him to the Swiss border with hisMG sports car telling him he could keep thecar because there were no spares in Germany!

Winkle Brown’s colourful and epic careercontinued through the war encompassingcarrier duties, being torpedoed in the Atlantic,becoming the Fleet Air Arm’s expert on carrierlandings (he made over 1500 during the waralone), early helicopter trials, capturing aLuftwaffe airfield just ahead of the BritishArmy and a grim trip as interpreter to the

Pause for a moment as we sweat throughthe sultry days of British Summer, to hear atale that will really cool you down, even

chill you out.One of the last lectures at the RGS in May

was given by Felicity Aston, a wonderfullyenthusiastic lady and with a style not dissimilarto Miranda or the late Joyce Grenfell in herprime. Felicity, a meteorologist by trade, gaveone of the year’s outstanding lectures,receiving a standing ovation at the end.Absolutely brilliant and informative, alldelivered in a jolly and entertaining style. Thetrip was sponsored by RGS and Landrover.

Felicity told us all about the “Pole of Cold”,an expedition she led in a Landrover to chasethe onset of winter across Europe into Siberiaand the coldest inhabited place on the globe.Arriving in Oymyakon in north east Siberiawhere the reindeer wear GPS tags, she wasgreeted by notices declaring that they’d arrivedin the coldest place on earth and by three girlsdressed as elves sitting on top of a signpost!

It is seriously parky in Oymyakon, gettingdown to –72° sometimes. Neverthe less, theinhabitants are sturdy folk including thechildren who only abandon their schoolingwhen the thermometer hits –52°. At thatpoint they stay home and the teachers come

Once again theRGS comes uptrumps with abrilliant end ofseason lecture. It’salso time forUndercurrents’Man of the YearAward and a tripdown memory lanewith the Pythons.

Out in the cold with Winkle Brownand the “Blackmail” show by Malcolm Draper, Rentalength

Right: the expeditioners pose withthe Lord Keeper of the Cold besidethe Landrover Defender and below

right, The Lord of the Cold.Below: Back from the “Pole of

Cold”, the expedition’s Landroverwas on show outside the RGS in

Exhibition Road, London.

some time and quick thinking for him toexplain that taking pictures was part of thesurvey!

On another day Ray recalls, ‘We carefullyestablished a survey point and covered it foruse on a future occasion. In fact, we had beenwatched by a party of Bedouin who wereunder the impression that we had buriedsome treasure and the next day we returnedto find our precise survey station had beendug up and was lying on its side.’

Ray’s account recalls another surveyor’s taleof establishing a trig point somewhere inAfrica and warning the local police that itmust be preserved at all cost. Returning somemonths later our surveyor could find no traceof the monument. Remonstrating with thesergeant at the police station he was dulyshown his trig point. . . carefully preservedand locked up in a cell!

MiscellanyAlas, we managed to miss Land Surveyor’sWeek declared by the US state of Washington inMarch with the declaration signed off by thegovernor himself. Any chance of one here RICS?Might be just the thing on the back of that fullpage advert recently taken out by the Institutionin the national press promoting careers insurveying. Martin Rickman has sent us thisphoto from a local council continuing the longtradition of misspelling Ordnance Survey’s name.A round of smelly “ordinance” to them.

Undercurrents


Bergen-Belsen concentration camp where hewas involved in interrogating the commandantand his female assistant, describing her as ‘themost evil human being I have ever met.’ Healso interrogated Goering and Himmler, thelatter at first denying who he was beforebeing quickly unmasked by Eric.

His exploits continued after the war, testingsome of the German’s advanced aircraft likethe rocket propelled and lethal Me-163 beforebecoming a test pilot which included helpingrebuild German naval aviation in the 1950sand a spell working for the revitalised GermanFocke-Wulf company. Brown had to give upflying at the age of 70 but not before he wascredited with flying at least 487 different typesof aircraft. He is still alive and was the subjectof a recent BBC documentary Britain’s GreatestPilot: The Extraordinary Story of CaptainWinkle Brown. The “Winkle” moniker, by theway, was given for his very short stature,which in his own words, ‘enabled me to curlmyself up in the cockpit’. What a fantasticcharacter. How was he missed in thatprogramme some years ago to find the mostfamous Brit? If you get a chance watch thedocumentary and have a read of the extensiveWiki entry, from which much of this piece isderived:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown Weshould all be in awe of this man, especially ifyou’re like me a tad short of stature.

RecollectionsFollowing my recollections in the lastUndercurrents of working in Ethiopia in the1960s, Ray Adams writes that it reminded himof how lucky we all were to work in parts ofthe world which would be unsafe today, giventhe many current conflicts. In 1966 Ray wasworking for Engineering Surveys Ltd inNorthern Syria on an oil pipeline route. Hefound himself near a town called Raqqa bythe Euphrates river. Standing by his theodolite,set up on the roof of a hut, he noticed severalArab women sweeping the courtyard below. Itseemed a good opportunity to take theirpicture and on impulse he pointed his cameratowards them. Unfortunately one of the Arabgentlemen down below had spotted this andcame rushing up the ladder to confront himfingering the dagger in his belt. Luckily for Rayhis interpreter was not far away but it took

Got a tale to tell?Please send letters forpublication by e-mailto the Editor: [email protected] contactUndercurrents, instrictest confidence ifyou wish (we promiseto change names,places, etc toprotect the guilty!),via e-mail:[email protected]

And finally I wonder if you’ve heard of“Ransomware”? This is software developed bycriminals who then take over your computernetwork and tell you they’ll encrypt it all andtake it down forever unless you pay up. One,Rahul Kashyap, chief security architect, head ofresearch at Bromium says: “Ransomware is aparticularly nasty form of malware becauseonce you are hit with its encryption, your filesare toast. Anti-virus can’t do anything to bringthose encrypted files back to you.” It ratherreminds me of a Monty Python sketch about agame-show called Blackmail in which thesmarmy host waves various incriminatingpapers, photos, films etc that will not berevealed if the persons involved send in money.Time limited, a ticking clock encourages themto phone in as quickly as possible.

Only in Australia:we could not resist this pic

from one of our Aussiecorrespondents.

. . . we managedto miss LandSurveyor’s Week. . .

‘‘’’

Eric and chums in WW2 and inset, today age 95.

High resolution imaging


graphs, it can be summarised by saying that acamera with a higher pixel count may notnecessarily provide a sharper image. It istherefore necessary to select a camera andlens combination that has optimum spatialresolution characteristics.

Take for example, a typical 24-Mpx DSLRcamera sensor with a sensor size of 36 ×24mm. The size of each pixel, in real worldterms, would translate to 0.15mm if capturedwith a 400mm focal length lens at a distanceof 10m. If the focal length is increased, or theplatform is moved towards the subject, thenthe real world pixel size decreases still further,but with the downside that the imagecoverage decreases.

For this article we shall concentrate on aground sample distance of between 0.25 to0.05mm (4 to 20 pixels per mm), which is wellsuited for the recording of plane objects suchas paintings, tapestries and ceilings.

A seamless imageClose-up images are often not that useful inisolation, especially on a large subject. Toovercome this, one approach is to take multipleimages and then stitch them together. If youcan stitch hundreds of images together youhave the ability to create a homogenous imagewith very high visual resolution.

To obtain a nominal GSD of 0.15mm, a 24-Mpx camera platform with a 400mm lenswould cover a real world area of 900 ×600mm at 10m. Add to that the need foradequate overlap between frames – morethan 30% for reliable stitching – and theimage numbers soon stack up; a total ofapproximately 150 over a typical tapestry,painting or ceiling of, say, 8 × 5m. If a GSD of0.10mm is required, the number ofphotographs needed increases to nearer 400!

At this stage it is worth introducing theconcept of a seamless image and what itactually represents.To obtain a seamless imagein this way, the parallax between frames needsto be eliminated (parallax is that movement oftwo distant objects relative to one anotherwhen viewed from different viewpoints). Forstereo imagery, parallax is a key consideration,but for the single set-up giga image this mustbe eliminated or at least mitigated tonegligible values.

To mitigate the effects of parallax, thecamera’s focal point should be coincident withthe origin of rotation at all times. The camerais mounted on a rotating pan head and thefocal point of the lens is adjusted to ensurethat it is positioned at the centre of rotation

Over recent years, heritage recording hasundergone massive change.Improvements in terrestrial scanning,

digital imaging and the ability to navigatethese datasets using mobile devices hasprovided the surveyor with a wealth of newopportunities to deliver quantitative andqualitative information at a resolution neverbefore commercially achievable.

In order to provide a cost-effectiveapproach to digital recording to the historicsector, we highlight a technique developed toswiftly capture high-resolution seamlessimagery using an affordable small format DSLR(Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera platform.This technique, known as automatedpanoramic imaging, makes use of a DSLRcamera mounted on a computer-controlled360° motorised head.

Glanville Geomatics has been using thistechnology for the recording of highly detailedsubjects, such as ornate ceilings, tapestriesand fine artwork, where sub-millimetre pixelresolution imagery is required and is morecritical than image geometry. These imagesprovide a valuable resource for the monitoringof condition, cataloguing, conservationmanagement and visual media. Production ofa seamlessly blended image that is fit forpurpose, economic to produce and navigabledoes however firstly involve overcoming manypractical obstacles.

ResolutionWe use scale to categorise vector products butfor raster products we generally use the termresolution. The measure of resolution is theability of a sensor to define small objects withclearly defined boundaries. However, whatconstitutes an optimum resolution will oftenbe driven by the end user requirement andmay well be specified in terms of what sizethe pixel represents in the real world. This realworld pixel resolution, or ground sampledistance (GSD), is a very useful starting pointwhen undertaking such imagery.

It is, however, important to clarify resolutionwith regard to a typical DSLR sensor. Imageresolution can be described as the number ofpixels that the sensor will contain. For example,a 24-Mpx camera will contain 24 million pixels.Each pixel may be limited in what it can orcannot record in the visible spectrum. Indeed, asmaller pixel area may compromise the sensor’sdynamic range, thus reducing the clarity of theinformation available.

Although the subject of resolution driftsinto the realms of unspeakable equations and

John Hallett-Jones,Director of GlanvilleGeomatics,describes a newtechnique for high-resolution imagingof historical objectslike ceiling paintingsand mouldingswhere sub-millimetrepixel resolution iscalled for.

Imaging the Banqueting House ceilingby John Hallett-Jones

Above: Camera set -up onthe Panoramic Head.



only remaining part of the Palace of Whitehallin central London. It is cared for by anindependent heritage charity, Historic RoyalPalaces, and is a fine example of thearchitecture of Inigo Jones.

For a recent project, the challenge was toprovide high-resolution imagery of the 550 sqm ceiling of the Banqueting House, to increaseunderstanding of the workmanship andcondition of both the ceiling structure and theartwork. The ceiling itself is not an idealplanar surface and is heavily moulded by thecoffers that house the nine Rubens paintings,making the project particularly awkward.

With a floor to ceiling height of 16m, eachof the nine ceiling panels had to be imagedwith a ground sample distance of no greaterthan 0.25mm. Fixed scaffolding was not anoption, and all the work had to be carried outduring the working day in a space open to thepublic. As a result, a ground-based mobilecamera platform, that could execute rapidimaging, was deemed the only viable solution.

The set-up consisted of a Nikon D800camera with a 400mm prime lens, mountedon a stable tripod and panoramic head. Linkedto the head was a laptop controlling thecamera and the head and providing a meansfor rapid download. A total of nine set-upswere planned, with each one located directlybeneath the centre of each panel. Thisresulted in nine separate giga images coveringthe 34 × 16m ceiling area.

With work undertaken during daylighthours, the initial challenge was to plan for acloudy day in order for the light to be asdiffuse as possible. The artificial lighting withinthe room was, for the main part, thedominant light source and luckily the influenceof external light changes did not adverselyaffect the final images.

The camera’s white balance was set to bestrepresent the colour temperature and thenkept constant throughout the shoot. Exposurewas also gauged across the subject and againkept constant throughout.

Finding the “sweet spot”The lens aperture was set to the lens “sweet

during the shoot. The subject is then imagedin a series of predefined horizontal andvertical angular increments about these axes,after which the resultant images can beseamlessly stitched together.

With 360° panoramic and -65±90° tiltrange on the camera head, it becomesapparent that the imagery is being projectedbased upon a spherical projection, with theresult that the GSD will increase towards theperimeter of the subject with the optimumGSD at the centre, orthogonal to the surface.By balancing the subject-to-camera distanceand the focal length of the camera, this canbe optimised by using a nominal GSD valuethat minimises changes across the subjectarea, in a similar way that map projections aimto minimise scale change.

Once the resolution is determined, alongwith the distance to the subject, themechanics of the shoot are relativelystraightforward. However, there areenvironmental considerations that must beaddressed before the images are taken, toensure that the resultant image is blendedwell in terms of light, colour and sharpness.

LightingLighting is an environmental factor that has tobe controlled with great care whenundertaking multi imaging. A diffuse naturallight is often preferred but it has to remainconstant during the shoot. If the shoot is likelyto take a few hours then natural light caneasily vary, not only in intensity, but also intemperature. If this occurs the resultantimages may have varying exposures or have acolour temperature change that is difficult toaccommodate in post processing.

To overcome this, it is often better to havecontrol of the light, to ensure that it remainsconstant and to customise the white balanceand exposure before the shoot. Of all thetechnical aspects, this can be the mostchallenging.

Capturing RubensThe Banqueting House in Whitehall was builtbetween 1619 and 1622 and stands as the

Above: Each image is compared to its immediate neighbour providing a statistical measure of correlation.

. . . a higher pixelcount may notnecessarilyprovide a sharperimage.

‘‘

’’



adjacent frames. The panorama is thenadjusted to suit a planar projection.

Viewing the imageryHaving captured and compiled the imagery,the next hurdle is viewing the image. Withsuch large files (often greater than 2gigabytes), typical navigation through theimage can be slow. By breaking the image upinto tiles, the panorama can be navigated byusing only those tiles relevant to the screen.This can be uploaded as an offline HTML5 filefor navigation either to a PC or iPad platformor by streaming the images through an onlineresource.

By adopting this multi image approach,Glanville has provided high-definition imageryfor the 550 sq m ceiling, precisely stitchedtogether to create nine seamless gigapixelimages with each pixel representing 0.25mmof real world information. That’s a total ofnearly 11 billion pixels of history.

The images show incredible detail,including cracks, brush strokes and minuteflaking, enabling the conservators,archaeologists and surveyors of the fabric tocatalogue, monitor and help preserve thenation’s treasures in a manner never previouslyachieved. Glanville’s work is the first part of amajor project for Historic Royal Palaces toconserve and represent the Banqueting Houseover the next five years, in time for a re-launch in 2019 to celebrate the 400thanniversary of the commencement of InigoJones’s work on the building.

The approach has been challenging and the

spot” to minimise lens aberrations anddiffraction and to ensure an adequate depthof field on the coffered ceiling. There is atrade-off to be had here: if the lens apertureis too small, exposures have to be long, if itis too big, the depth of field is reduced andthat may introduce poor focus in peripheralareas. With hundreds of images to capture,and the need for a rapid shoot to minimisepotential changes in the ambient light, thebalance between these parameters requiredcareful planning from the outset.

In addition to this, working with larger, heavierlenses can cause panoramic head vibration duringthe shoot and thus extra time between frameswas factored in to dampen these effects andensure focus was kept crisp. Once the camerawas set, then the image spacing, overlap andfield of view were configured on the panoramichead via the PC interface in order to achieve thedesired coverage.

Once activated, the system captured theimages in a series of angular steps. Each onewas downloaded both as a raw file and as ajpg for review. If an image looked poor, forwhatever reason, the panoramic head wasprogrammed to return to that position andretake the photograph.

Post capture, the images were passedthrough Adobe Lightroom to calibrate thecamera’s colour and to undertake a qualitycheck. The image set was then blended andstitched within the dedicated panoramicsoftware, which automatically creates adatabase of common points between imagesproviding a statistically robust fit between

Above: The central panel of the Banqueting House ceiling 14x8m Above right: zoomed in detailfrom same image 450x200mm and zoomed in still further 200x100mm (lower)

The images showincredible detail,including cracks,brush strokes andminute flaking. . .

‘‘

’’



led us down some interesting pathways. Morerecent projects have included the recording of theTapestries at Hampton Court, where an evenfiner level of detail was required (0.15mmresolution), the Queen’s Stair ceiling also atHampton Court and the Privy Chamber ceiling atKensington Palace at 0.2mm resolution.

The technology does not just stop at therecording for historic features. Applications tocapture cityscapes, landscapes and evenconstruction sites, all lend themselves to thisrapid and affordable technology. Introduce thefourth dimension of time and the systembecomes a very powerful cost effective andmobile recording tool.

About the authorJohn Hallett-Jones is achartered land surveyorwho has worked forGlanville Geomaticssince June 2004. Hegraduated fromNewcastle Universitywith a BSc in Surveyingand Mapping Science in

1994. Prior to Glanville, John worked inAustralia, the Middle East, Central Africa andthe ex-Soviet Republics before returning to theUK in 2001, if only to escape the heat andmilitary coups.

learning curve has been steep, when dealing withall the varying parameters. The environmentalconsiderations and the decisions on the mostappropriate hardware to match the budget have

Above: Camera head inaction on the Queen’s Stair– Hampton Court Palace.

Host: DVW e.V. | Conference organiser: DVW GmbH | Trade fair organiser: HINTE GmbH

7 – 9 October 2014 | Berlin, Exhibition Grounds

www.intergeo.de

along with

3rd National INSPIRE Conference 2014imaGIne-2 Conference Sponsors:

Land Management

16 Geomatics World July/August 2014

public needs and assuring sites and services.Sustainable land management (SLM) using

urban planning instruments and master plansto allocate zones or plots for trade, industry,housing and for public sites can only takeplace where there is a formally clear situationconcerning property. To create goodconditions for improving property andplanning a solid legal base has to be put inplace before further land managementactivities are undertaken.

The key question remains: how can landmanagement be implemented in a dynamicenvironment, taking into account economicdevelopment and the need for increasing foodand fibre production, as well as preservingproduction capabilities and preventing landdegradation? How to plan and manage alluses of land in an integrated manner, suchthat land management becomes sustainableand supports wellbeing and goodgovernance?

The following can be assumed:

1 Economic development consumes land.

2 (Sub-)Urban development sprawls onagricultural land.

3 Land consumption and sprawl cannot bestopped but can be guided and controlled.

4 Guidance of land consumption and SLMcreates better conditions for development.

5 SLM needs a cadastre as a pre-requisite.

6 Resolution of informal squatter areaproblems requires the establishment of“temporary development zones” withspecial legal provisions.

The first three above are fairly self-evident.Economic growth leads to the demand forland. This happens in agricultural-based aswell as industrial economies. Uncontrolledurban expansion appears initially as sprawlalong communication routes followed byinfilling of the empty areas.

Informal urbanisationIn metropolitan areas the informalurbanisation of city outskirts follows acommon pattern in the form of clandestinehousing developments that fail to complywith planning regulations and occupationof sites without the owners’ consent with

In metropolitan areas of many developingcountries informal urbanisation of theoutskirts of cities is the norm. Most of the

regulatory tools available for managing urbandevelopment in industrialised countries are notappropriate and in any case regulatory toolsonly work when there is effective lawenforcement, land administration and cityplanning. In their absence new approaches areneeded where urban authorities in developingcountries do not engage in realistic minimalpreparations for urban growth.

Preparing for expansionIt is essential to secure public lands and rights-of-way necessary to serve future urbangrowth, protect sensitive lands from building,and to invest in basic infrastructure toaccommodate growth. Needless to say, it ismore expensive to provide urban infrastructurein built-up areas – especially in areasdeveloped by the informal sector – than toprovide services (or at least protect a right-of-way for services), before building takes place.The absence of even minimal preparation forurban expansion, on both the activist and theregulatory fronts, is an inefficient, inequitableand unsustainable practice, imposing greateconomic and environmental cost on societiesthat can ill afford them.

Urbanisation can also be controlledthrough public initiatives, although they maynot automatically lead to success. To achievelong-term success, property systems must beconsolidated without conflicting propertyrights and disputed land titles. This remainsa pre-condition not only for enabling landand housing markets but also for publicinitiatives in the sense of securing land for

In developingcountriesuncontrolled urbansprawl, driven byinformalsettlement, blightsmajor cities likeDelhi, Bangkok orCairo. The authorproposes the TDZas a newinstrument toachieve sustainableland managementin dynamicenvironments.

Temporary Development Zones– the answer to urban sprawlby Dr Alexander Kohli

Sustainable LandManagement as defined

by the World Bank.

Sustainable Land Management (SLM)The World Bank has defined sustainable landmanagement as a knowledge-based procedurewhich helps integrate land, water, biodiversityand environmental management to meet risingfood and fibre demands.This should be achieved by sustaining ecosystemservices and livelihoods. This definition isfocused mainly on agriculture and ruraldevelopment. When it comes to urbanised areas,the water, environmental, and biodiversityaspects may take priority.

. . . propertysystems must beconsolidatedwithout conflictingproperty rightsand disputed landtitles.

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July/August 2014 Geomatics World 17

topography and property ownership or tenure.In cases where a reliable cadastre is missing,property issues remain unclear and SLM ishampered. In the immediate aftermath of aconflict, the securing, restoration or set-up ofland records is crucial. Even if a form of acadastral system is in place but is unreliableand poorly maintained, an unclear propertysituation makes SLM very difficult.

Loss of property and investments becauseof a lack of transparency in public planningand an unreliable cadastre will cause distrustin cadastral documentation. Problems will becreated by illegal development andconstruction in restricted or endangered areas.Since 2007 in Kosovo, state and municipalauthorities have tried to regularise and legaliseillegal construction as a first step back toreliable land management systems.

Recently the call for new tools has beenheard. FIG, the international federation ofsurveyors, is starting new initiatives such asthe publication: Social Tenure Domain Model(STDM). Unfortunately the data modelachieved under this initiative is even morecomplicated than others. A more promisingsolution is the simplified application of theCadastre 2014 approach concentrating on theregistration of independent topics for theactual state of tenures, properties or holdings(Figure 2). No surveying is required but onlythe identification of property or tenure basedon points, polylines, or surfaces is needed.

Comprehensive documentation inmaintained digital cadastres of the actualexisting legal situation of land, following theprinciple of legal independence stated byCadastre 2014, will form a strong basis forSLM. The procedure for fast approachcadastre documentation (Figure 3) is definedas follows:

STEP 1: Identification of property, house ortenure on satellite or orthophoto maps aspoint objects to create a preliminary landtitle. Definition of a surface description ona separate cadastre layer in the GIS bypolylines including overlapping claims,

inhabitants constructing their own, oftenprecarious, dwellings. This illegal occupationdevelops invariably on available sites on thecity’s outskirts, which are often unsuitable forhabitation. It may equally occur within gaps inthe urban area, including central or peri-central zones.

Sprawl may also result from planneddevelopment, as demonstrated by detachedhousing developments and other residentialprogrammes from investment capital orcontrolled by the public sector. Some projectscan be on a very large scale such as the newdistricts and satellite sub-cities in Delhi, hugemetropolitan projects in Bangkok, edge citiesin Cairo and resettlements of internallydisplaced persons (IDPs).

In non-industrial countries economicpressure is often overwhelming and dynamic,so that even guidance and control do notwork if the relevant instruments are not inplace. Direction can be successful, especiallyby land use planning to avoid hazardous areassuch as floodplains.

Network planning makes senseTurning to point 4 above, by applying strongSLM procedures, including transparent landconsolidation methods to rural and urbanisedareas investment in utilities becomeworthwhile and creates more favourableeffects than in sprawled areas. Efficiency ratesincrease and network planning for water orsewerage makes sense. Housing and industrialsites may also profit from available and easilyconnected utilities. A higher density of userscreates better conditions as overall costs forcitizens and capital investors decrease andservice quality increases.

In Azerbaijan, especially in Baku (Figure 1),continuing degradation of the urbanenvironment is going on due to the lack of amodern spatial planning system, missingmaster plans, or absence of detailed plans forurban areas. Consequently, new constructionis carried out under the pressure of marketforces, basically without proper planningregulations. Forced eviction for towndevelopment is common and it is unclearwho is responsible for the preparation ofplans and issuing of permits for changes inland use as well as for building. Stateplanning authorities still try to overseeplanning issues that are better handled at theregional or municipal level. Easy to applybuilding permits would help to increasesecurity of property. Stable and transparentprocedures with defined planning horizonscreate security amongst owners and areadiness for dynamic developments — allfactors for the well-being of a developingand an industrial community.

Fast approach cadastreAs a pre-condition land management needs asustainable base documentation of topology,

A morepromisingsolution is thesimplifiedapplication of theCadastre 2014approach. . .

‘‘

’’

Fig 2: the Cadastre 2014 datamodel approach for easy and fast

registration of tenures andholdings besides legal

boundaries.

Fig 3: The procedure for fastapproach cadastre

documentation.

. . . the adjustmentof the legalframework has totake place beforeany action ofmaster- andurban-planning...

‘‘

’’

Land Management

18 Geomatics World July/August 2014

etc., are arranged and completed to a ruleset (Table 1) adapted by governmental decreefor the establishment of TDZ’s. This rule setoverrides the existing laws mentioned abovein specific aspects.

Taking these pre-conditions into account,the following process can be implemented:

STEP 1: Definition of the perimeter of action(dwelling area to be developed) includingsufficient compensation in adjacent areasor in the near surroundings.

STEP 2: Common agreement and decision onTDZ: the assembly of stakeholders andlocal government to decide on theestablishment of special rights for the TDZbased on the governmental decree on theestablishment of the TDZ for a definedproject period.

STEP 3: TDZ Project Analysis Phase:Documentation of formal/informal landrights, and public demand (services, rights-of-way, sensitive and endangered lands).

STEP 4: TDZ Project Land ManagementPhase: Redistribution plan according toagreed rules of real substitution andcompensation.

STEP 5: Public display of the allocation planwith the right of administrative appeal forunsatisfied former owners.

STEP 6: Registration of new ownership;payments of compensation.

STEP 7: Reconstruction of settlements byprivate sector and utilities by publicentities.

Factors for successIn running projects, e.g., in Kosovo andAzerbaijan, critical factors for success wereidentified to be:

• Documentation of informal/illegaloccupation and construction beforeregularisation;

• Regularisation of informal/illegaloccupation under formal and appropriatecompensation to former owners;

• Management of land and resourcesaccording to a concept developed under theaspects of sustainability;

• Compulsory land acquisition by the public(eventually financed by a bank) in case adirect role in land development isjustifiable (e.g., services, right-of-way);

• Force local government to take an activerole within a very short time; the legalprovisions for temporary developmentzones should expire after a limited period;

• Easy and free of charge registration fornew ownership and building underconcurrent compensation for registrationby the TDZ project.

The logical consequence of economic

rights, and disputes. The latter must have atopological link to the point object formingthe land title. The cadastre informationobtained in such a way must reflect theactual situation should it be legallyapproved or based on customarypossession. It serves as a working base andneeds stepwise improvement.

STEP 2: Definition of procedures to formalisetenures based on clear documentation ofspatial information. The procedures have toend up in a legally approved situation.

STEP 3: Further steps focus on the resolutionof conflicts and approval of the propertyand tenure situation reflected by thecadastre. As a very easy and effectiveprocedure the negotiation and reciprocalsigning of (ortho-)photo maps by theowners or holders must be used. After thisa general public display of the resultingcadastral documentation may lead to publicapproval.

STEP 4: Once there is clear documentation ofthe actual situation in the cadastre, thecommunal and state-driven processes offormalisation of ownership or holdings canstart by legally approved land reform acts.

Temporary development zonesTo overcome sprawl combined withinformal/illegal housing and dwellings, a jointapproach of land consolidation and urbanplanning under special right is recommended.As an initial step, this concept calls for theintroduction of a legal framework dedicatedto the development task of a separateperimeter of action – so called “temporarydevelopment zones” (TDZ).

From several experiences, we have learntthat the adjustment of the legal frameworkhas to take place before any master andurban planning, land rights documentation(cadastre) or regularisation action is started.In doing so, regulation by existing laws suchas the civil code, real estate registration,cadastre, land use, land reform, privatisation,

Table 1: Legal aspects to beruled for temporarydevelopment zones (TDZ).

Civil Code, RealEstate RegistrationLaw, Cadastre Law:

Land Use Law:

Land Reform Law,Privatisation Law:

Expropriation Law:

Building Law:

Public Services Law:

Changes to land parcels as well as to rights (encumbrances)are applicable within TDZ and are registered free of chargeto the new owners. Compensation by the TDZ project.

The land use within TDZ can be changed as technicallyaccountable.

Land allocations may be freely changed within TDZ.

Land expropriation against appropriate compensation isapplicable within TDZ.

New constructions are permitted and registered free ofcharge to the new owners. Compensation by the TDZ project.

Public utilities are forced to provide services and metering toTDZ under appropriate conditions.

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July/August 2014 Geomatics World 19

and the government allocates substantialfunds for compensation.

About the authorDr. Alexander Kohli graduated from theDepartment for Rural Engineering andSurveying in 1995 at the Swiss FederalInstitute of Technology (ETH Zurich) where hefinished in 1998 his PhD thesis on BuildingScour in Flood Plains. As a licensed surveyorhe is working for the World Bank, EBRD, SwissGovernment in the fields of ProjectDevelopment, Land Management,Administration and Cadastre worldwide andsince 2009 has represented Switzerland as adelegate to FIG, Commission 8, SpatialPlanning and Development. Email:[email protected]. Swiss LandManagement, Switzerland

• This article summarises a paper delivered atthe Annual World Bank Conference on Landand Poverty, The World Bank - WashingtonDC, April 8-11, 2013 and published as FIGpaper of the month in April 2014. For the fulltext and references, visitwww.fig.net/pub/monthly_articles/march_2014/kohli.html

development – the inevitable consumption ofland – substantiates the need for sustainableland management and cadastre. Successfulattempts to direct or manage landconsumption or land use can only beaccomplished with the solid base of a well-maintained digital cadastre following theCadastre 2014 principles, which represent theactual situation of property and tenureholdings (fast approach cadastre). Theflexibility of handling not only legally approvedbut also informal and temporary objectsthrough the use of the independent layertechnology leads to an easy adjustment ofdocumentation systems to meet the needs forthe resolution of land problems.

The sustainable resolution, in terms of SLMfor squatter and occupation problems, calls forjoint approaches of land consolidation andurban planning under special rights. Theconcept of temporary development zones isbased on a rule-set adapted to thedevelopment task under governmental decreethat overrules the relevant land-related laws.This enables a combined implementation ofregularisation of informal/illegal propertysituations and considerable improvements ofservices as well as sound legal protection ofhousing. However, the approach presentedcan only work if the governmental decree isput in force before project implementation

FIG Report


the effort is paying off.At the turn of the Millennium the

international community, through the UN, seteight Millennium Development Goals with atarget date of 2015. Of these, the first was toeradicate extreme poverty and hunger and theseventh to ensure environmental sustainability. Inthe context of the consequences of a rapidlyrising global population, these are tough targets.To achieve them and to continue tacklingpoverty beyond 2015, land has to be managedas efficiently as possible, whilst avoiding actionsthat cause climate change. No doubt other partsof the UN are studying population growth, asthe root cause of the problem, but surveying hasa part to play in helping to alleviate thesymptoms and it is these that FIG and the UNagencies have been addressing.

A key document in this effort was Cadastre2014. It was published in 1998 as theculmination of efforts by an FIG workinggroup between 1994 and 1998. The group’smandate was to discover trends in thecadastral field and chart what cadastres mightlook like in 2014. Central to Cadastre 2014 isthe six visionary statements. A risingpopulation is going to put increasing pressureon food supply and housing – both of whichdepend upon the efficient management ofland. And to achieve that, there has to besecure tenure. Several speakers covered thistopic from different angles and describedseveral pieces of work going on and futurechallenges and opportunities in this area.

Cadastre 2014 – The six statements1: Cadastre 2014 will show the complete legal

situation of land, including public rightsand restrictions

2: The separation between ‘maps’ and‘registers’ will be abolished

3: Cadastral mapping will be dead! Long livemodelling

4: ‘Paper and pencil cadastre’ will have gone5: Cadastre 2014 will be highly privatised.

Public and private sector are workingclosely together

6: Cadastre 2014 will be cost recovering

Geospatial data is also receiving a higherprofile in other areas of government –particularly disaster management. AhmadFauzi Nordin, Director General of theDepartment of Survey and Mapping, Malaysiaspoke of his organisation’s involvement in thesearch for flight Mh370 and the earlier

These events are an opportunity for thehosts to make a splash and the renownedKuala Lumpur Convention Centre with its

backdrop of the Petronas Twin Towers,certainly provided a perfect selfie-opportunityfor delegates. Even more impressive was thepresence of the Malaysian Prime Minister, theHonourable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun HajiAbdul Razak, at the opening ceremony.

His speech was very much to the point,centring on the importance of geospatial data– not only collecting and analysing it, butparticularly in communicating it clearly todecision makers. Malaysia is going through aperiod of rapid development and thegovernment has clear goals that it wants toachieve by 2020. However, the aim is toachieve the goals without sacrificing resourcesor the environment: quite a challenge in theconsumer-led world that Malaysians havejoined enthusiastically. By 2020 the aim is forMalaysia to be a developed, high incomenation state and the prime minister seesgeospatial data and those who collect andanalyse it, as central to the mission.

Teo Chi Hai ran through some of theachievements of FIG in the past four yearsincluding Cadastre 2014, the KL declarationon spatially enabled societies and the jointwork with the World Bank on fit-for-purposeland administration.

The opening ceremony was rounded off byan enthusiastic performance of drumming by theFusion Symphony of 1Malaysia – symbolic ofMalaysia’s efforts to bring her various diverseracial communities together in national harmony.

The technical sessions of the conference tookplace over four days with four sessions per dayand ten or more streams in each session.Inevitably any report of the event will be a

personal one. There wasalso a large exhibitionincluding all the majormanufacturers and south-east Asian suppliers.

The plenary andtechnical sessionprogramme had asignificant focus onsurveying associated withland administration,cadastre and planning:possibly more so thanprevious conferences. Infact this area has clearlybeen a focus for FIG and

FIG congressescome round onceevery four years.They mark the endof one presidentialterm of office andthe start of thenext. Teo Chee Hai(above) isMalaysian so, asoutgoing president,his country stagedthe congressmarking the end ofhis term and 2,500delegates from 99countries gatheredin Kuala Lumpurfor the occasion.Richard Groomreports.

“Engaging the Challenges, Enhancing the Relevance”

A technical exhibition gavedelegates time to catch upon the latest offerings fromthe equipment and servicesuppliers.

FIG Report


universities and professional institutions. FIGheld a young surveyors’ conference in KualaLumpur and CLGE, the European umbrellaorganisation for surveying, is proposing a youngsurveyors European network. Leonie Newnham,from Australia’s Department of the Environmentand Primary Industries, argued that FIG’sdefinition of a surveyor should be reviewed tomake it better reflect the changing profession.She says that the language used has to work foryoung people if they are to understand whatsurveyors do. One of the problems faced intrying to attract young people to the professionacross the globe is the very diversity of workcarried out by surveyors. Another speaker, BrianCoutts from the University of Otago, NewZealand asked what the British qualificationChartered Geographer was all about.Geography is not a profession, he argued, andGIS should be part of the surveying profession.The waters were further muddied by arepresentative of the RICS who mentioned thenames of all professional groups in the RICSexcept Geomatics! Newnham is going toproduce a discussion paper for presentation tothe FIG Council. Contact:[email protected].

Chris Rizos from the University of NewSouth Wales, Australia gave a geodesist’s viewof the opportunities and challenges forsurveyors in a multi GNSS world. He expectsprecise positioning to move into the massmarket but there will still be a need forexperts and they will have to go back to basicsto handle the technological opportunities.Technological advances will result in greaterchoice and more scope for innovation and thesurveyor will have to be on top of this as wellas the alternatives for situations where GNSSis unsuitable.

This was a well organised event in anexcellent location and featuring plenty ofMalaysian cuisine. It was however marred tosome degree by the number of no-showpresenters. The next major FIG event will bethe ‘working week’ in New Zealand in 2016followed by the next congress, which will beheld in Istanbul in 2018.

• Future articles in GW will delve further into theindividual papers presented at Kuala Lumpur.

incursion of a group of gunmen to LahadDatu, Sabah. He stressed the need for globaldata to be made available and beinteroperable. Vanessa Lawrence alsodisplayed a map that had been prepared byOrdnance Survey for cabinet office briefingsduring the UK’s winter flooding.

Such is the importance of the topic that‘geospatial’ is now a subject of conversation atthe highest levels of government. If there was asub-theme running through the conference, itwas communication. Several speakers, includingthe Malaysian prime minister stressed that theexperts have to be able to communicate clearlyin the language of the politicians.

It’s all about placeSo, how should surveyors get their messagesacross to the politicians? This was a questionposed to Vanessa Lawrence, who wasspeaking about the role of UN-GGIM. Sheanswered by saying that on one occasion,before presenting a paper to the BritishCabinet, she tried a dry run with a senior civilservant. After a minute on the subject ofgeographic this and geospatial that, the civilservant stopped her and said that they wouldnot understand these terms, and so we endedup with a document entitled “Place Matters”.

The question of communication also came upin connection with a related FIG document. PaulMunro-Faure from the UN Food and AgricultureOrganisation wondered why the “VoluntaryGuidelines on Responsible Governance ofTenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests” were notbeing promoted by the land administrationcommunity. He called on delegates to use themwhen advising governments and so breathe lifeinto an agreement that took three solid weeksof negotiation with 98 countries.

Clear communication is the route to the toptable and it was Lawrence who announced thata UN-GGIM initiative – the Global GeospatialReference Frame (GGRF) – is on course to bediscussed at the UN General Assembly later thisyear. “Why”, asked one of the delegates, “dowe need this? We already have ITRF (theInternational Terrestrial Reference Frame).” Theanswer is that GGRF is largely the same as ITRFbut if it is endorsed by the UN GeneralAssembly, it will become official and theendorsement will support those countries thatneed funding from their governments toimplement it. UN-GGIM was formed in 2011 inresponse to a perceived gap in the globalmanagement of geospatial information, whichhad been identified by Prof Paul Cheung. UN-GGIM has helped to raise the profile ofgeospatial activities to the point whereLawrence and her colleagues are discussing thesubject with UN ambassadors and it features inhigh level communiques, such as Rio+20.

Diversity unattractive?Attracting young people to the professioncontinues to exercise the minds of the

To overcome thedeficiencies ofmanual methodsof angularaccuracydetermination,

‘‘

’’

WHAT IS FIG?FIG is the UN-recognised non-government organisation (NGO) representingthe interests of surveyors worldwide. It is a federation of national memberassociations and covers the whole range of professional fields within theglobal surveying community. It provides an international forum for discussionand development, aiming to promote professional practice and standards.

FIG was founded in 1878 in Paris as the Fédération Internationale desGéomètres. This has become anglicised to the International Federation ofSurveyors. It currently has 102 member associations in 87 countries throughoutthe world. Both the RICS and the CICES are member associations of FIG. Theorganisation also has affiliate, corporate and academic member categories.FIG’s aim is to ensure that the disciplines of surveying and all who practise themmeet the needs of the markets and communities that they serve.

GEO Business report


has moved on from the modest ambitions ofLevel 2 and is now more about applying Level 3BIM throughout the lifecycle of buildings. Thefocus is still on buildings although the BIMconcept applies over the range of engineeringand construction activities.

Peter Hansford is chief construction advisorfor HM Government. His keynote put BIM inthe context of the government’s strategy. Yes,it has one and BIM is its keystone. The overallaim of BIM is to reduce the lifecycle costs ofinfrastructure, develop a lean, efficientengineering and construction industry andthen export this expertise across the globe. Ademonstration BIM project – Cookham Woodprison, has been completed and savings arereported to be in the region of £800,000,which is roughly 20% of the overallconstruction cost.

Looking ahead, the government has set up apartnership with industry to look at howengineering and construction should be by2025. With ‘Construction 2025’ the promoterssee a radical transformation of the industry.Building times should be shorter: a 55%reduction in time from inception to completion.Cost of construction should be 33% less.Emissions will be halved it is claimed and therewill be a 50% improvement in the tradebalance for construction materials, which iscurrently heavily biased towards imports. Allthis is to be delivered by progressing five keythemes: People, Smart, Sustainable, Growthand Leadership and will result in ‘Digital BuiltBritain’. Overall, the aim to take advantage ofprojected growth of engineering andconstruction of 4% per year. We shall see.

Geospatial at the hubPlowman Craven has been at the forefront ofthe BIM revolution. Peter Folwell spoke aboutthe new scenario in which the surveyor has aplace at multi-disciplinary project meetings, notleast because he can and should be there fromproject inception right through to operationand maintenance. He stressed the importanceof refurbishments and refits – every bit asimportant as the high profile new builds and anarea where competent surveying is essential.

Matthew McCarter from LondonUnderground and Casey Rutland from Arupmet on Twitter and discussed as-built BIMfrom a social media point of view. Theydescribed how Twitter acts as a melting potfor diverse ideas from a global community anddisseminates them to anyone instantly. Thereis no room for protective behaviour in thisworld. They see scanning as a useful tool formonitoring the as-built condition of buildingsduring construction but to do this effectively itwill be necessary to segment the point cloudaccording to the discipline so that, forexample, the mechanical and electricalengineers are not distracted by architecturalfinishes. This is quite a challenge and if notdone carefully could remove the contextual

The Business Design Centre at Islington inNorth London is a large space with anarched roof giving it the feel of a

Victorian railway terminus. It was the venuefor this year’s geo event – GeoBusiness 2014,which was, for the first time, activelysupported by the RICS, CICES and TSA via theSurvey Liaison Group and by the AGI. Theconference lived up to its promise as well asbeing an opportunity to chalk up some hoursof CPD. There had been an enthusiasticresponse to the call for papers, resulting in aset of quality presentations which was wellworth the attendance fee.

BIM FocusBIM was the word on everyone’s lips but wasby no means the only word, as topics rangedacross the geospatial spectrum. The range ofapplication areas was reflected in theexhibition, which included many organisationsnot seen at previous geo events and wassteadily busy throughout the two-day show.

BIM is starting to look like a success story forsurveyors. We have not let the technology passus by or allowed the other engineeringdisciplines steal our place. But this is largelydown to the efforts of a few ‘first adopters’ andchampions of the cause and there is still plentyof influencing to be done. The BIM conversation

‘Meet me at GeoBusiness!’

With theLondon location

the showattracted plenty

of overseasvisitors.

With ‘Construction2025’ we will seea radicaltransformation ofthe industry

‘‘

’’

GEO Business report


In the new world of collaboration surveyorsshould be at the hub (if not as managers,certainly as facilitators) because they arenatural collaborators. They can and should beinvolved with all disciplines throughout theproject life cycle. This was demonstrated inPeter Folwell’s talk, mentioned earlier, and alsoin a keynote presentation from Neil Ackroyd,the acting director general of OrdnanceSurvey. His talk was entitled “Mapping theFuture “through innovation and beyond”.New technology is enabling us to collect moreand more data at an ever decreasing cost: atrend that is now being fuelled by rapiddevelopments in automation. The challenge isto manage the data, identify new applicationsand exploit them. Change detection is centralto the maintenance of MasterMap, Britain’stopographical database, and has realised a 15– 20% efficiency saving but there are alsoapplications for analysing data, such as smallbuilding works in back gardens that wouldpreviously have been difficult and expensive todetect. The challenge for surveyors is toexploit the opportunities to satisfy current andpotential markets. This concept extends totechnology itself and satellite positioning is aprime example of a technology intended fornavigation and subsequently developed forprecise surveying.

The OS is collaborating more with othergovernment departments as witnessed by theorganisation’s work during the Olympics andduring last winter’s severe flooding. Butcollaboration involves listening as well astalking and Ackroyd reminded the audiencethat surveyors do not have the monopoly overgood ideas. He mentioned the development ofan app to serve up OS data as a new ‘world’for the computer game “Minecraft”. JosephBraybrook, who worked as an intern at themapping agency last year, developed the appwhich has resulted in millions of downloads.

The electronic gaming industry is biggerthan movies but hitherto, surveyors have notmade use of game engines to generatesimulations. Irish firm RealSim has been doingjust this. managing director Gavin Duffyexplained how his company makes use of thistechnology to do amazing things. This isperhaps best demonstrated by a system thatRealSim has set up for the island of Jersey

information that is a vital aspect of the BIMconcept. The speakers noted that currently, as-built models are not being delivered followingthe construction phase and therefore notbeing used in the operations and maintenancephase, which accounts for 64% of thelifecycle cost of a building.

Unfortunately most of the talks ran overinto time that could have been used forquestions. One question could have beenaround the standard for BIM models. Is REVITgoing to be the de facto standard? Answers inmore than 140 characters [email protected] please!

In the specifications and standards session,James Kavanagh called on oriental philosophyto help with his talk: “The Tao ofMeasurement”. He spoke of the InternationalProperty Measurement Standard (IPMS) as aglobal standard for measuring buildings; thebasis for all valuation. Not only does itstandardise the many different methods anddefinitions in use around the world, but it alsoties in with the International Valuation Standardand the International Financial ReportingStandards. The surveying of undergroundutilities is a largely unregulated business, butPAS128 is set to change all that. John Robinsonfrom SubScan Technologies talked about thedevelopment of this publicly available (but notfree) standard which is due for launch on 30thJune. The standard will define survey qualityand give more control to the client, but in thelonger term Robinson hopes that it will formthe basis for training, assessment ofcompetency and accreditation of surveyors.

Kavanagh also spoke about the long-awaited RICS Measured Survey Specification.After ten years of deliberation and debate it isnearly complete and will be aligned withPAS128.

Feeding the geographerHumans need to classify to understand butthere are often overlaps between differentareas. The smart city is up there with BIM, butare they so very different? Andrew Hudson-Smith from University College London gave afascinating talk on smart cities at the macroscale and the opportunities arising from geo-analysis of data feeds of public information.For example, travellers around London can usea cash card known as Oyster to buy tickets byswiping in and out at the start and end ofeach journey. The data from these cardsclearly has an application for travel planning inLondon, but you can also use the data toshow traffic at tube stations: Bank stationshows two sharp peaks but traffic at CamdenTown centres around nightlife. In anotherexample, Hudson-Smith demonstrated theuses of Twitter data, including the actual textsent in an intimate tweet to a girl (or boy)friend sent from behind the tweeter’s gardenshed! When you tick the terms and conditionsbox you are indeed giving away your privacy.

“There had been anenthusiastic response

to the call forpapers, resulting in a

set of qualitypresentations whichwas well worth the

attendance fee.”

. . .‘geospatial’should berepresentedthroughout thelife cycle of anasset.

‘‘

’’

Answer: changethe carpet fromplain to patterned.‘‘

’’

GEO Business report


category in Britain. So we do not know howmany people work in geospatial occupations orhow many will be needed in future. Without anidentity or figures, how can you build capacity,plan university (and other) courses orencourage potential students to join them?How can you engage with politicians?

The table presented by Ian Bush displayed agloomy picture for surveying technicians butthe same chart showed the prospects forprofessionals as more promising. Donertpointed delegates towards a campaign topromote the geospatial industry in theNetherlands, including an inspiring four-minute video – seehttp://geo-pickmeup.com/why-we-need-geographers-the-go-geo-campaign/

The conclusion is that there is a need topromote the ‘geo’ industries, to raise the levelof awareness and improve the image with thepublic. One institution acting alone cannotachieve this, but if all work together...

Ubiquitous positioningMoving to a highlight from the more technicalpresentations, Professor Terry Moore fromNottingham Geospatial Institute spoke aboutubiquitous positioning. Progress is beingmade, and Moore described the variedtechnologies that are being developed and thetechnical challenges to make them work.There are some ingenious solutions. Forexample, how do you control drift in inertialsensors? Answer: put the sensor in thepedestrian’s shoe, because it is stationarywhilst the shoe is in contact with the groundduring each step and can perform a zerovelocity update. How do you improve real-timestructure from motion? Answer: change thecarpet from plain to patterned. Let’s give awarm welcome back to the 1970s!

Alongside the conference there was a fullexhibition including all the major equipmentmanufacturers and suppliers, softwaredevelopers and educators and an extensiveprogramme of supplier seminars runningconcurrently in seven rooms anddemonstrations outside. There was plenty oftime for networking and catching up withpeople we probably meet only once a year.

GeoBusiness 2014 was undoubtedly asuccess for all, but perhaps its greatest successwas in bringing together the disparate geoindustry. Hopefully all parts now recognisethat we can only face present and futurechallenges in our booming business with onevoice and by working together.

• This article picks out general points andthemes from the conference, which includedmany useful technical sessions and much moredetail than can be presented here. Eachconference delegate will be sent a copy of theproceedings, which will also be available toothers for a £75 charge – visitwww.geobusinessshow.com.

which has transformed the planning process.

Shared version of the truthAnne Kemp is a champion of the ‘geospatialfor BIM’ cause and is currently chair of theAGI. She opened the second day’s proceedingswith a keynote speech which was, as ever,inspiring and different. Her talk focused onthe soft skills that get things done.Collaborators have to be aligned andmotivated. She implored the audience toforget selfishness. The implication was thatsurveyors had suggested that they shouldconsume the whole of the BIM cake. Perhapswe should have said that survey skills shouldbe at the core of BIM projects and that all weask is that people who do surveying are atleast certified as competent.

This point was reinforced by Ian Bush, whofollowed Kemp with a talk on Survey4BIM –the committee that represents surveying in theBIM world. He said that ‘geospatial’ should bepresent throughout the life cycle of an asset.But he also referred to a study into the jobs ofthe future, which listed those occupations thatwould be needed in future and those thatwould fall by the wayside. This was bad newsfor surveying technicians, who were consignedto the wrong side of the table. Why? Perhapsthe view is that surveying fieldwork willbecome so de-skilled that anyone will be ableto do it. If this is to be the case, then Bushsaid we need to ensure that even the deskilledsurveyor possesses the ‘soft’ qualities of asurveyor – accuracy, integrity, rigour, attentionto detail and logical execution. Severalspeakers said that skills should be recognisedby certification as a way to assurecompetence. Bush invited the audience to getinvolved with Survey4BIM – to do so, [email protected].

Kemp’s view is that ‘geospatial’ has tochange. We have to talk less to each otherand more to the people with whom we willbe collaborating. Furthermore, we have toabandon our “tribes” and speak with onevoice. In a sense, this was the lesson fromthe conference itself – the product of thewhole industry putting its differences asideand co-operating, with astonishing results.But what does geospatial bring to the BIMproject? Kemp used the term “shared versionof the truth” but also mentioned theimportance of context, also known assituational awareness in the military world,and an essential ingredient for collaboration.The aim is to promote a contextualunderstanding and interpretation of data –an “authentic reality”.

Identity crisisGiven that everything happens somewhere, youwould expect geospatial people to beeverywhere – and we are. Yet Karl Donert,presenting in the geospatial education session,pointed out that there is no ‘geospatial’ job


Historic photogrammetry

International Society for Photogrammetry inRome in July 1938 and was installed atWembley soon after. With the Aerofilms staff itwas moved to the Central Interpretation Unit atMedmenham in 1941 after the Wembley officewas bombed. It was worked round the clockthroughout the war, plotting and measuring theV-rockets at Peenemünde, the Normandybeaches and other critical sites. At the end ofthe war the instrument was returned to whathad become Hunting Aerosurveys and was usedfor routine mapping most notably the 1:600scale mapping and remapping of Hong Kong, acontract which ran for ten years because thecity kept being rebuilt. Finally around the end ofthe 1970s it was donated to the RAF Museumat Hendon and placed in a small cubicle underthe nose of the Lancaster bomber.

Katy Whitaker and Ann Woodward whowere designing the photographic exhibitwanted the Wild A5 50 as the centre piece tobe used from time to time to demonstrate itswartime mapping function, perhaps producing aplan of Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord. I warnedthem that the instrument was probably not inworking order as Derek Philpot, the instrumentengineer at Hunting Surveys who had stripped itdown, had not been involved in reassembling it.The museum agreed to let us check it over andgive it a good clean before it was moved. Atthis point I asked Ernie Wickens to join theworking party as he had recently restoredanother A5 in the Medmenham Collection atthe Military Intelligence Museum at Chicksandsin Bedfordshire. Ernie and Derek concentratedon cleaning and oiling the optical andmechanical parts while Katy and I cleared layersof dust and grime from the main frame. Wemanaged to get all but one of the adjustmentsmoving again but have lost the floating marks inthe binoculars (the same problem wasencountered at Chicksands). The instrumentwas moved to the prime location opposite theBritain from Above exhibit and beside the PRSpitfire with a clear explanation of its role inphoto-interpretation and mapping.

The meeting attracted 40, more than we hadexpected and posed a slight problem. Belatedlythe museum told us we could not talk aboutthe instrument and the exhibit to more than 25at a time for safety reasons. Just after our firstpresentation a very realistic air-raid warningsounded and the Bomber Hall had to beevacuated for an unspecified emergency. Afterquarter of an hour in the sun we were allowedback in to give the second presentation. In dribsand drabs most of us repaired to the Beaufortpub a few hundred metres away for lunch andto discuss old times with old colleagues. TheRAF Museum is well worth a visit.

English Heritage had acquired the Aerofilmscollection of oblique aerial photographsdating back to 1919 and obtained a Lottery

Fund Grant to scan the first million negatives upto 1953 and place them on the website ‘Britainfrom Above’ for all to enjoy. They have nowmounted an exhibition at RAF Hendon with animpressive selection of enlargements from thecollection and a detailed description of thedevelopment and activities of Aerofilms. Theyhave also published a lavishly illustrated bookAerofilms, A history of Britain from above.

The Bomber Hall is a very appropriate venuefor the exhibit, sandwiched between a Lancasterbomber and a late-model Spitfire stripped of allits armaments and fitted with cameras andadditional fuel tanks for long-range photo-reconnaissance. Nearby is the Canberra that stillholds the record flight time to New Zealandflown by Captain Monty Burton, who then flewaerial photography and airborne geophysicalsurveys for Huntings for many years with ageingDC3s. There is also a display about tracking andfinally sinking the Tirpitz, which demonstratesthe dogged determination of the photo-reconnaissance pilots and photo-interpreters. InFebruary 1940 high-level photography wasflown over Wilhelmshaven revealing that,contrary to previous reports, Tirpitz was still indry dock. The RAF had neither the expertise northe equipment to analyse such small-scalephotography and sent it to Aerofilms atWembley for analysis. Churchill, as First Lord ofthe Admiralty, saw their report and immediatelydemanded to know why the Air Ministry hadnot taken over the company, adding that theAdmiralty was quite prepared to do so. The AirMinistry did.

In 1938 Francis Wills, the managing directorof Aerofilms, had been so impressed with theperformance of the new Wild A5 mappinginstrument being designed in Switzerland that hepersuaded his board to buy the first productioninstrument at a cost of £5,500 (the price of ten

houses) taking anenormous commercialrisk. Within the year allcivil aerial photographywas prohibited but evenbefore war started thecompany was workingalmost full time for theAir Ministry interpretingphotography ofGermany and on air-raidprotection measures athome.

The Wild A5 50 hadbeen exhibited at theCongress of the

Ernie Wickens andJohn Leatherdalerecently organised agathering of aerialphotographers,surveyors and mapmakers to view thenew ‘Britain fromAbove’ exhibit atthe RAF Museum atHendon. Theycirculated formerstaff from Huntingsand Faireys, theRemote Sensing andPhotogrammetrySociety, theMedmenham Cluband the DefenceSurveyors’Association but hadno idea how manywould turn up.

‘Britain from above’ and a Wild A5 50 at Hendonby John Leatherdale

Above: John Leatherdale aided by Ernie Wickensexplains the intricacies of the Wild A5 50.

Mapping for D-Day


control points were established and coordinatedby the British using entirely graphical methods,until the Americans and Canadians arrived andbrought with them Multiplex stereo plotters andthe slotted template technique. Spot heightswere taken from existing 1:80,000 scalemapping and contours plotted using astereoplotter – no doubt a difficult task giventhe lack of ground height control. The basemapping scale was 1:25,000 with 1:12,500 forthe immediate invasion area.

Beach gradient observationsThere was one major concern about the landingcraft – that if the gradients of the beaches weretoo shallow, landing craft would be grounded farfrom the shore. Two methods were used tomeasure gradient. One involved photographingthe beach at six stages of the tide. A mosaic wasmade from low tide photography and then theintermediate water lines were superimposedupon it. The second method was based upon thefact that waves are slowed down by a shelvingbeach. Photographs were taken at the right tidelevel and in the first and last two hours ofphotographic daylight to ensure long shadows.Despite all the efforts to measure beach gradient,the results were not entirely accurate and had tobe supplemented with ground survey.

Hydrography under cover of darknessThe hydrographic survey effort concentratedaround gathering detailed information close tothe beach that would be used for installationof the Mulberry harbours as well as for thelandings themselves, an operation not for thefeint hearted as the entire coast was heavilyguarded, mined and watched by the Germans.

The operation was described in detail in anarticle by Commander Nisbet Glen (SWSeptember 1995). The only available charts weremade in 1875 by lead-line soundings, so it wasconsidered essential to carry out check surveysby boat. Two craft were provided which, whenloaded with equipment, could proceed at 9knots. Each boat was equipped with a primitiveecho sounder that did not take kindly to dampand salty surroundings; often demanding a sharpblow with a fist to get it going. They were alsoequipped with a ‘taut wire machine’, consistingof a drum with nine miles of single strand pianowire, passing through a measuring device. Theend of the wire was attached to an anchorwhich was dropped from the stern of the boat.The echo-sounder trace was tagged withdistances along the wire.

One of the boats was also equipped with aQH receiver, an early form of Decca Navigator,which was used to navigate to the right generalarea. To fix the position of the sounding lines,on reaching the beach the surveyors took

In 1995, Surveying World published articleson the topographic and hydrographicsurveying work that was carried out in

preparation for the invasion. This article iscompiled from four articles which are availablefrom the GW archives. References areprovided at the end of the article.

The D-Day landings of 6th June 1944marked the beginning of the end of WorldWar II in Europe, but preparation started overa year earlier and was a monumental task.

Topographic mappingThe main topographic task was to map an areaof northern France extending 200km in theeast-west direction and 100km north-south. Thesource data was aerial photography and takingit was made all the more hazardous, becausethe Spitfire and Mosquito aircraft used for thepurpose had to be disarmed, so that they couldfly faster through enemy airspace. Thephotography was produced at 1:30,000 scalefrom a height of 30,000 ft.

The mapping task was code-named ‘Benson’.It was split between United States, Canadianand British mapping units and began in winter1942-43, well over a year before the invasion.The plan ground control came from an officiallist of coordinates for French triangulationstations which was brought to Britain in 1940.The trigs were identified on the photographyfrom the point descriptions. At first, minor

The 70thanniversary of theNormandyLandings has justpassed. To markthe occasion, GWlooks back intoarchives ofGeomatics Worldand its predecessortile SurveyingWorld, to discoverthe role played bysurveyors ion thatmomentous dayand in the daysfollowing.

Mapping in the Coastal Zone. . . for D-Day!

Above: Soundings off Arromanches taken by Lt Cdr Steve Richie (later RearAdmiral and Hydrographer to the Navy) with Berncastle and Glen’s soundings in1943 seen as a star pattern.

Mapping for D-Day


Ouistreham was replacedby Oslo. These allowed theassault troops to becomefamiliar with the terrainwhilst not knowing thereal operational location.

Overall, the task wasmassive. The data wasused for a multiplicity ofcharts for the assault and atotal of 30,720 map packswere distributed prior to D-Day. As Alan Gordonrecords, “The statistics ofD-Day are all superlativesand those relating to mapsand charts are noexception. In just undertwo years 170 millionmaps were produced.”

Read moreAir Survey in the Liberation ofEurope, Col W H (Freddie) Hore,Surveying World, May 1995.Air Survey mapping for theInvasion, Harold Fullard,Surveying World, July 1995.Normandy Reconnaissance, Commander Nisbet GlenOBE RN, Surveying World, Sept 1995.Mapping and charting for the greatest collaborativeproject ever, Alan Gordon, Geomatics World Jul/Aug2004.

compass observations to features on the shore.They were in identifying shoreline features bylow level oblique aerial photography. The teammade a total of six missions. Glen’s article givesfull details and is a fascinating read.

Buoys, ports and. . . minesDuring the assault itself, buoys were laid tomark mine-swept corridors across the Channelthen, on arrival, rapid surveys were made of thebeaches to plot any uncharted dangers. Setting-out buoys were placed and detailed surveyscarried out before positioning the Mulberryharbours. Then, as each channel port wasliberated, survey vessels would survey them, sothey could be used by allied shipping. This wasno mean task, given the obstructions that hadto be contended with – Boulogne alone wasblocked by 26 sunken ships. On land, surveyorswere given specific tasks during the landings.Alan Gordon (GW July/August 2004) describesone, in which the surveyors had to establishcontrol for the Royal Artillery to position andorientate their guns. This could only do donewith any safety with tripod legs spread so thatthe theodolite was barely off the ground.

Secrecy was of course paramount andvarious devices were employed to ensure thatOperation Overlord was not compromised.These included the production of the ‘bogus’map series, based upon the ‘Benson’ maps butwith place names replaced, for example,

Above: Assault on Venice? A‘bogus’ Benson map ofPegasus Bridge over theCaen Canal near Ouistrehamprepared for D-Day.

3D City Modelling


in the way that the planning service is delivered.The GUM was only one of the projects aimed atmaking the planning system simpler, faster andmore accessible to members of the public andprofessionals alike, by predicting the impact in3D of new structures or “effects” in theenvironment.

The City’s primary objectives in the deliveryof the urban model were:

- To deliver an interactive and highlyaccurate 3D digital model that could assistin the development, assessment andpromotion of regeneration projects;

- To encourage improved access to, andunderstanding of development proposalsfor members of the public, thedevelopment industry and council services;

- To improve communications amongst allparties involved in negotiation betweenCouncil officers, elected members andexternal stakeholders ;

- To promote integration with otherelements of the council’s e-planningservices via the council’s website;

- To promote better quality developments onthe ground.

What is the Glasgow Urban Model?The model consists of three digital products.The Block Model. This is a 3D massing model,

based on a LiDAR survey defined byan accuracy of ± 1metre. This is ahighly versatile version of the model,with manageable polygon count,making it perfectly suited at the pre-planning application stage wherethe principle of any development isyet to be established and agreedamong the designers.

The Photorealistic Model. Thisversion of the model was madepossible thanks to the use of laserscanning. For the first time, suchtechnology has been used for themodelling and representation of anextended urban area in 3D. Theaccuracy as requested within theproject tender stated that eachbuilding should be modelled downto a value of ± 20cm and this alsoincludes the textures of all façades(including rear elevations).

The Online Model. With a viewto allowing access to the 3Dvirtual city by any citizens andtourists, an online version of boththe photorealistic and the blockmodel has been uploaded onto

Cities in the United Kingdom are goingsmart. A smart city uses intelligenttechnology to enhance the quality of life

in urban environments. This technology aimsat generating real time information thatenables people to be more efficient and helpthem make more informed decisions. One ofthe biggest challenges that it can help toaddress is that of rapid urbanisation with theissues arising from this.

It is with this spirit of gaining an improved andenhanced understanding of the builtenvironment that the Glasgow Urban Model(GUM) was initially conceived. Three years ofwork that have seen the very latest technologybeing used to reveal a virtual representation ofGlasgow, which is still one of the most detailedand accurate of its kind available in Europe, andbeyond. The Urban Model presently comprisesover 2500 accurately modelled buildings over anarea of 700 hectares, many of the buildings arelisted and lie within the Central ConservationArea. It also includes the terrain, roadways andbridges across the City Centre and Clyde corridor.Work on the creation of the 3D digital modelwas initiated by Glasgow City Council as part ofthe Access Glasgow programme, which was setup to support the City’s e-planning agenda.

Planning plays a central role in co-ordinatingScotland’s economic growth and the e-Planningprogramme is intended to deliver a step change

Smart Cities are ahot geospatial topicand Glasgow isleading the way intheir development.In this articleMargherita Cavallofrom Glasgow CityCouncil describesthe city’s model,how it is being usednow and itspotential for thefuture.

The Glasgow Urban Model, Smart Cities andExploring Urban Change in 3D

Figure 1: Glasgow City Chambers in George Square – Left image untextured, right imagetextured – Courtesy of Glasgow City Council / The Urban Model

3D City Modelling


scanner generates clouds of millions of 3Dpoints from each set up. From theamalgamated point cloud it is possible todevelop the building’s wireframe, then themodellers will show examples of the shadingand eventually the textures applied. The careand accuracy employed on modelling abuilding such as the Gallery of Modern Artwas also applied to buildings that are lessarchitecturally significant.

Urban model applications.Since the GUM was completed in 2008, therehave been a variety of applications where itsuse has been crucial in determining successfuloutcomes. The potential range of applicationsis enormous: from flooding analysis, securitymanagement, transport studies and tourism tomention a few, and much interest has alsobeen received by the city from a variety ofprivate and public organisations that wouldbenefit from its use.

The additional element that adds to theinterest and uniqueness of the urban model isthat it becomes a little time capsule thatrecords the city at a specific time and allowsfor further layers to be built on it, while stillallowing the user to go back in time.Assuming that the model carries ondeveloping for years to come, it will bepossible to keep returning to the originalmodel to see how the city has evolved overtime. Despite being conceived within theplanning service, it is a lot more than just aplanning tool. For example, the Glasgow ArcBridge was scanned before the failure, in2008, of a support hanger. The bridge wasclosed for five months for repairs. The modelwas in effect an archival document, and it canalso serve as an insurance record. Manyorganisations in the United States use laserscanning for just that. The police also usescanners quite extensively to calculate theblast radius of major buildings and to createvirtual crime scenes.

The model operates primarily as a tool forevaluation of development proposals prior toapproval, this is facilitated by engaging witharchitects early in the design process. To thiseffect the models have been generated in 3DStudio Max, an off-the-shelf software packagewidely used in the professional industry for thecreation of 3D models. To allow for furthercompatibility of applications, the City has

the council’s website and is accessible at:www.glasgow.gov.uk/urbanmodel

The functionality and performance of the on-line model is under constant development. (Thecurrent version is not accessible to MAC users).

How was this made possible? The process of acquiring accurate data hasbeen critical to the success of this project and,despite the ever-evolving developments of asimilar nature within the field of 3Dmodelling, this still remains as one of thefinest examples of urban modelling withinEurope. The City requested an accuracy of20cm; applying to building height, footprintand any façade details. Aerial photogrammetrycan provide a certain level of accuracy andcontext but cannot effectively supplyindividual building façade details. Terrestrialphotogrammetry was used and is a relativelyinexpensive option, however it proved rathertime consuming. On-site laser scanninghardware is considerably more expensive, butit can provide fast, highly accurate results andits extensive use has made the Glasgow Modelunique in maintaining dimensional accuracy.

Plans, drawings and images are used for avariety of purposes: they inform the designprocess; communicate ideas and build theconfidence of stakeholders; they aid promotion,marketing and selling whilst also enablingassessment of design schemes. A lack of clarityand understanding in design proposals caneasily lead to poorly designed schemes actuallybeing built. Inevitably an effective assessmentrelies upon successful communication.

Traditional communication tools, such asphysical models, axonometric drawings,elevations and perspectives are familiar toprofessionals and public alike, although notnecessarily well understood by theprofessionals who are in charge of theassessment process. Artists’ impressions, inparticular, can be prone to misinterpretation asthey are frequently not accurate and provide avisual guide only. All artistic and computergenerated images should be cross-referencedwith measured drawings to fully understandand appreciate development proposals. Allimage types can ‘tell fibs’: aerial viewpointsshow a development from angles that humanscould never see, whereas eye-level viewpointsoffer a more realistic impression.

The GUM provides a fantastic tool which isable for the first time to overcome thelimitations of 2D information, while removingthe subjective element from the assessment ofthe information. It may not always be easy formembers of the public and professionals tovisualise a 2D drawing into its streetscape; theurban model is empowering and breaks downthe barriers between people and what’shappening in their city.

Laser scanning generates the data for themodel and avoids the use of third-partyinformation. Using a 360-degree sweep, the

Figure 2: A test imageshowing the impact of

flooding in George Square– Courtesy of Glasgow CityCouncil / The Urban Model

The urbanmodel presentlycomprises over2500 accuratelymodelledbuildings. . .

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The revenuegenerated fromthis is reinvestedinto themaintenance andupkeep of themodel...

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3D City Modelling


The various versions of the model arealready being used for a variety of projectsand studies, including the competition for anew design of George House in GeorgeSquare, Glasgow’s main civic space, where thesix short-listed entries were dropped into thecity model for the assessment of the designproposals. The 3D environment that wascreated made it possible to navigate througheach proposal, set precise views of each ofthem in context and see one against the other,by simply hitting a key.

A scheme that allows third parties toacquire the data under licence is currently inplace. The revenue generated from this isreinvested into the maintenance and upkeepof the model with a view to its long-termsustainable development.

Virtual Glasgow expandsThe City has secured a few extensions to theoriginal model boundary in partnerships withother investors and businesses in the City. Suchareas comprise the New Glasgow Hospital, anarea of almost 300ha to the south-west of thecity and the New Campus Glasgow, which lies inthe city centre adjacent to the northern boundaryof the original project. Discussions are currentlybeing held to procure an additional extension tothe west end of the city and other areasincluding the Commonwealth Games whichGlasgow hosts this summer.

Thanks to the Glasgow Urban Model theCity can now map proposed developments ina way that has never been done before. It isoften difficult to visualise developments simplyfrom architects’ drawings, but the GUM bringsthem to life, allowing everyone to contributeto the planning process. The model also bringswith it the prospect of future innovationswhich could see it used as a marketing andtourism tool, with potential visitors andinvestors able to access Glasgow’s unique builtheritage from any computer, anywhere in theworld. What the City has delivered is a uniquemodel and one which still has huge potentialfor growth.

The Glasgow Urban Model is now going tobe used to support the Smart Cities projectwhich will employ high-end innovativetechnology to develop integrated new urbansolutions and help to shape the efficient andsustainable city of the future.

About the authorMargherita Cavallo works at Glasgow CityCouncil, Development and RegenerationServices. She holds a degree in Architecture fromthe “Universita’ degli Studi” of Genova (Italy).

She is responsible for generating revenueinto the Glasgow Urban Model project whilstforging collaborations with the private sectorfor the extension of the 3D model data. Shepromotes the use of the model data beyondthe urban planning function for wideraccessibility and applications.

acquired additional software and plug-ins,allowing independent 3d models constructedusing Sketch-Up, AutoCAD and Microstation tobe imported to show the impact of new designswithin their surrounding context. Moving fromthe general principle of the development, whenthe general mass and scale are established,agreement on issues such as materials andelevations can be reached by using the fullyrendered photorealistic model.

By introducing such a dynamic tool, it isnow possible to tweak a series of variables toachieve an intended desired effect, such as theheight or appearance of any feature within aspecific building. One of the strengths of thisis the ability to change material. For example,use of warmer materials on a grey day makesa huge difference as compared to concrete orwhite render, and the model enables us tovisualise this in advance.

In order to focus on the architecture,secondary clutter and traffic has not beenendorsed as part of the modelling work,however such data can be readilyincorporated. The modelling of statues provedvery difficult and it was agreed to have theseincorporated on an ad-hoc basis. It is alsopossible to add and remove other elements,such as people, cars or trees, within thestreetscape through various scenarios, asadditional plug-ins. This improves the sense ofrealism in an urban scene which can beenhanced by putting in animated green screenpeople, just to give a sense of urbanism.

Since the urban model is so accurate in termsof building footprint, window placement andmaterials, third-party software packages can beplugged into the model to undertake accurateanalysis of the effect and impact of light, windand heat on building façades.

Figure 3: Images showing the impact of a proposed mixed-use development incentral Glasgow. (Left image: existing building, right image: proposed building) –Courtesy of Glasgow City Council / The Urban Model.

Policy Watch


DAY ONE kicked off withRICS’s DrDiane Dumashie’s presentation onthe Africa Task force to the YoungSurveyors Network. She gainedtraction as the General Assemblysaw her candidacy for FIG vicepresident. RICS then stepped outonto the pitch with Ian Corkerdiscussing land reform beforepassing to Society of CharteredSurveyors Ireland’s Audrey Martinon Dublin of Institute Technology’snew MSc programme. The ballthen went to Global Land ToolsNetwork, UN FIG and others wherea discussion of woman’s rightstook centre stage. The second halfof the day was chaired by Prof StigEnemark HonRICS on the challengeshumanity faces like climate change,shelter and economic issues.

DAY TWO and the Germandelegates were still recoveringfrom celebrating their victoryagainst Portugal. . . meanwhilethe Spanish looked nervous –with good reason.

Paul Munro-Faure FAO, KeithBell World Bank and the wonderfulProf Chris Rizos IAG in the openingplenary discussed the key role thatsurveying has for society and theeconomy. Bell spoke on WorldBank land administration. A fullinformation piece by GavinAdlington can be found in theMarch edition of RICS Land Journal.

Rizos stole the show with acurling free kick from way outsidethe box. Swerving betweendefenders, he spoke on mini-drones,Google Skybox, automatedtransport systems and the ease ofuse of future positioning systems(something England could benefitfrom - Ed). A final call to arms onsurveyors becoming service providersand he was off down the tunnel.

Star RICS players RobinMcLaren, Stig Enemark and GavinAdlington gave a master class on

fit-for-purpose land managementto a packed room whilst I spokeon RICS research into valuation ofunregistered land at a special FAOsession with close support fromProf Frances Plimmer, Ben Elderand John Tracey White (sadly side-lined in the UK by a late tackle.

Next some heavyweightsessions on geoid determination,multi GNSS and algorithms (forwhich RICS produces guidance).It can feel a bit like watching thebrilliant Dutch – a bit bewilderingand glad it’s not me up there!

DAY THREE it was Futures, IPMS,land tenure, marine and. . . (getyour shin guards on, it’s that timeagain!) property taxation. The RICSfirst choice 11 were out on the stagefrom the off. Ben Elder spoke oninternational valuation and theneed for a globally consistentlanguage for real estate, the coreof IPMS and then the innerworkings of the IPMS coalition. Itwas an excellent start where DeSoto and the scrabble killer‘fungiability’ were referenced.Elder was followed by Jean YvesPirlot from CLGE on the future ofEuropean Union surveyors.

Yours truly gave a ‘hard talk’style session alongside PaulMunro-Faure, head of land tenureFAO and incoming FIG presidentChrissy Potsiou (Greece). RICShas a long history of involvementwith FAO; for all Land Groupmembers FAO’s VGGT guidelinesare critical to understand.

Robin McLaren worked hismagic on the left wing with somenice in-swinging questions toeach ‘hard talk’ participant andthen spoke on the ‘MapMyRights’initiative (crowdsourcing). DrVanessa Lawrence and GavinAdlington held up the middle ofthe defence with papers ongeodetic systems and land

administration. Heavyweightmeasurement standards such asISO were outlined by DavidMartin. BIM, imagery andsessions with Brian Coutts (NewZealand) rounding off the day.

A long game went into extratime with the FIG Gala Dinner. Aplush affair at the MandarinOriental featuring some exoticand multi-cultural Malaysianentertainment. A Borneo tribalshow had a moment of tensionwhen a blowpipe dart missed aballoon and hit a dancer’s hat.She blinked an eyelid!

DAY FOUR and we’re moving intoextra time but there was no letup. Like France v Switzerland thegoals kept thumping in. First outwas Vanessa Lawrence in theopening heavyweight plenarytussle on the post 2015 develop -ment agenda and the postmillennium development goals,ably supported by Mustapha Iptesfrom International Hydro Org IHOand Donovan Storey UNESCAP.

Prof Stig Enemark had hisSuarez laser beam on whenslotting home from close range onthe Social Tenure Domain Modelopen source codes. Much has beenwritten on the need for open code;did you know even Google useopen source? Young surveyors arevery keen on coding especiallythose from Asia and Africa.

The BIM session had a packedroom (fire hazard full!) to hear ex-RICS president See Lian Ong andJames Kavanagh taking on a teamof QSs with a sweeping move andsome Dublin-style shouldercharges on the link between BIM,the Tao of measurement accuracy,smart cities and big data. Thisresulted in both the ball andgoalie being bundled into the net.Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?4-0 to the land surveyors.

“BIM is about far more thanbuildings” was my third paper inas many days, so it was off tolobby for the next day’s crucialvote. Dr Richard Grover FRICSwent on as a sub and deliveredhis paper on aboriginal rightsand land claims, keeping it tightat the back. Sessions on diversity,planning and PPP kept it goinguntil the Blue Economy with aground-breaking session chairedby Gordon Johnston with papers

from Michael Sutherland(Jamaica) and Dr Diane Dumashieon Caribbean and Africanperspectives. The marine economyis global and enormous (think intrillions of $) and hydrographicsurveyors play a crucial role. Thissession really highlighted the linkbetween marine survey (yes, wemeasure and map/chart underthe sea to IHO global standards)and the global economy.

DAY FIVE and the General Assemblysaw a quick win for Helsinki as thevenue for the 2017 working week.Turkey right to hold the 2018 GA inIstanbul. The FIG foundationreported, supported by thewonderful John Hohol (USA) whobrought eight young surveyors ontothe stage from Morocco to Nepalwho will be receiving bursaries.

UN GGIM gave a real boost tothe global profession withagreement on the GlobalGeodetic Reference Framework -a massive step forward forsurveying in the developing worldand the young surveyors networkpresented on their conference.

The penalty shoot-out for FIGvice president saw five verystrong candidates for twopositions. Dr Diane Dumashie hada lot of support after a strongcampaign. First round, Diane andRudolf Staiger went through to aplay off – as always the Germanswon on penalties. Gluckwunschto Rudolf! Diane stayed focusedslotting home from the spot andwent through to the next suddendeath round against Mikael Lilje(Sweden). The GA went to thevoting booth for the 4th time andyou could hear a pin drop as theresult was read out. Swedencame close but with nerves ofsteel Diane beat the keeper intothe top corner and amazinglyBritain (and by extension Africaand RICS) had won on penalties.

Diane is the first member ofRICS governing council to sit onFIG council, a real opportunity.There was only time for the FIGanthem, Christchurch NZ’s videoon FIG 2016 working week andfor the excellent Malaysian hoststo hand on the baton to Sofia for2015 before we were off downthe tunnel for a well-earnedshower. More at www.fig.net forall KL papers and GA results.

James (Mario Kempes)Kavanagh dribbles his wayday-by-day through 2014’stop event . . FIG KualaLumpur (what else wereyou thinking?). For a footy-free report turn to RichardGroom on page 20.

FIG: a world cup for surveyors

Mapping for the Great War


survey and map the Channel coast ofSouthern England in preparation for anyNapoleonic invasion.

Although the Survey has its roots firmly inthe military, perhaps its biggest war-timechallenge occurred coincidentally as thebusiness it is known for today, started toemerge. Set against the backdrop of newcivilian responsibilities such as producing mapsfor land valuation and tax purposes and theEdwardian love of exploration that fuelled agrowth in sales of its leisure maps, the FirstWorld War saw the Survey embark upon anurgent military task of heroic proportions.With existing maps of France found inaccurateand unreliable, it re-mapped around 6,000square miles of the Western Front.

The ‘Astrologer’ and some innovativetechniquesLike most Herculean exercises of its kind, thesurvey of the Western Front didn’t always goto plan. In late January 1915, somewhere onthe front lines between Béthune and Ypres,

the first surveyor sent out into the fieldwas arrested as a spy on the groundsthat no-one except a German would belikely to use an instrument such as atheodolite in the area. Fortunately hewas quickly released and allowed tocontinue, but the story, as told byCaptain Winterbotham of the 1stRanging Section of the Royal Engineers,underlines what must have seemed acurious sight to the average soldier atthe time. Winterbotham himself was nostranger to attracting attention andbecame something of a celebrity bybeing able to direct artillery fireaccurately onto unseen German position;a feat which earned him the nickname of‘the Astrologer’.

The urgency of the task followed achange in the very nature of the waritself. From Britain’s declaration on 4August 1914, it took little more than amonth for trench warfare to emerge asthe dominant form of conflict. It was a

Far from its traditional image as thepublisher of leisure maps for ramblers andcyclists exploring idyllic countryside, where

the only disturbance is the rustle of a cagouleor the whirr of a freewheel, Ordnance Surveywas set up in preparation for war and had amajor role to play in the mapping for WorldWar One.

Today many people still know Britain’smapping agency for its iconic range of papermaps, despite digital products for businessnow making up around 93% of theorganisation’s revenue. Ordnance Survey has asurprising history, because as Britain’s nationalmapping authority, today’s suppliers ofbusiness intelligence were originally chargedwith gathering military intelligence.

Preparing for warIn 1791, when it looked as though the chaosof revolution might travel across the waterfrom France, the Government of William Pittthe Younger asked the Board of Ordnance, theministry of defence of Georgian Britain, to

In addition to the70th anniversary ofthe Normandylandings, this yearalso marks thecentenary of theoutbreak of theFirst World War.Here, OrdnanceSurvey looks backon its militaryorigins, its role inthe 1914-18 War

Mapping for War and Peace– from military intelligenceto business intelligence

Trench positionsaround the Belgian hamlet

of Wytschaete for thebattle of Messines, IX

Corps, 1917

Mapping for the Great War


solely devoted to aerial survey but in 1914,the technique was very much in its infancyand the photographs taken had to becorrected to match the projection of the map.

Along with rapidly developing aerialreconnaissance techniques (radio signals wereused as beacons for the first time tosynchronise sightings of observation planesover enemy positions) sophisticated ranging byboth the sound and flash of enemy gunsallowed German artillery to be plotted withhigh accuracy. A survey of captured groundafter 1917’s Battle of Messines, an offensivethat set the stage for the third Battle of Ypres,found that 90% of German artillery positionshad been accurately targeted.

As time wore on, Ordnance Survey staffrecruited into the survey battalions of theRoyal Engineers and the maps they produced,each the result of a detailed and painstakingtopographic survey, overcame enough of thedifficulties to contribute invaluableinformation for the war effort.

Printing on the battlefieldAround 33 million military maps were printed.They became more and more vital as the warwore on. Worries that ships carrying mapsfrom Southampton might be sunk in theChannel, led in 1917 to the formation of theOverseas Branch of the Ordnance Survey(OBOS), a unit of 103 men and 46 womenbased in an old factory near the Aire Canal atWardreques in France. In one period of twoweeks, while Field Survey Companies wereforced into retreat during the Germanoffensive on the Somme in 1918, OBOSprinted 300,000 maps.

Sixty seven Ordnance Survey staff werekilled during the war and they arecommemorated at a memorial in a peacefulgarden besides Ordnance Survey’s Adanac Parkhead office in Southampton. Without theirsacrifice or the sacrifices of more fortunatecolleagues, many more of their countrymenwould have been killed or injured.

war that Britain’s generals and militarytacticians, more familiar with colonial conflictand cavalry charges, were at a loss to fight.This was a war that was industrial in scale,featuring advanced defence systems andhorrifying firepower. Their only tactic againstthe organised trenches of the German Army,the traditional massed infantry advance,proved to be nothing more than a suicidemission.

By spring 1915, both sides were installed ina 200-mile long network of trenches strungbetween the Belgian coast and Switzerland.The stalemate was made worse by theterrifying power of machine gun fire, long-range artillery attack and chemical weapons.Static warfare demanded new tactics and,where advances were counted in yards, large-scale, highly-detailed mapping.

Ready for actionOrdnance Survey was already prepared for warat its outbreak. Three survey sections wereready for action, but the War Office stoodthem down, possibly because the prevailingattitude was that the war would be quick – allover by Christmas, in fact – much to thedisappointment of thousands of eagervolunteers queuing up at recruiting offices upand down the land. A fast campaign thatovercame resistance quickly could use existing,less detailed mapping, such as the small-scale1:80 000 maps produced by OrdnanceSurvey’s French counterparts. TheGovernment’s optimism was short-lived, butthe early successes of Winterbotham, inparticular, encouraged the Army to formsurveying sections, then companies and,finally, field survey battalions.

Mapping the front lineWorking near the front lines, the OrdnanceSurvey men routinely exposed themselves todanger – enemy (and occasionally ‘friendly’)fire, were common. As if the prospect ofbeing shot wasn’t enough, the act ofsurveying itself was demanding and difficultand required the utmost care in anenvironment that changed so rapidly. Aprominent building, like a church tower, thatcould be used as a control point to anchor themap to a fixed point in the landscape, wouldoften end up demolished by artillery. Worsestill, a church tower might be re-erected fiftyyards away from its original position,potentially throwing the accuracy of the mapout enough to make a real difference to anoperation or manoeuvre.

The start of aerial photography andmodern techniquesAnother difficulty was obtaining informationabout German trench and artillery positions. Itwas solved early on with the rapiddevelopment of aerial reconnaissance. Thesedays, Ordnance Survey operate two aircraft

A print room.

A survey ofcaptured groundafter 1917’s Battleof Messines. . .found that 90% ofGerman artillerypositions had beenaccuratelytargeted.

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Downunder currents


organisations to take us forward to 2020.Greater promotion of surveying in our state toour members, the potential student marketand the general public are strong factors ofthe proposed plan for a better future.

A devil of a day outHaving missed this year’s Sydney Royal EasterShow I was the first one booked on K-G’s mini-bus, “Tiny Topp”, to go to the Tocal AgriculturalCollege Field Day past Maitland in northernNSW. As K-G observed and told some of herpassengers, when I go to a country style show Iam the proverbial boy in the lolly shopultimately replete with show bags, books, familygifts and fists full of dagwood dogs, Devonshireteas and donuts. However this show not onlyhad the usual suspects in flora and fauna therewas also a stall for the Devil’s Ark Foundationwhose Barrington Tops (near Newcastle)Sanctuary has been brilliantly successful inbreeding a colony of disease-free TasmanianDevils, the endangered Aussie marsupial underdire threat from a fatally contagious epidemic inits native state, after which it is named. For asmall donation I was one of the very few peopleon earth who has had a photo taken nursingsix-month old T Devil joey “Lucky.” The rest ofthe event showcased historic and modern farmequipment along with an open house of TocalHomestead (built 1841) the estate boasting ofthe sometime resident horse-breaker Fred Wardaka bushranger Captain Thunderbolt.

Walking Cox’s 1815 Road If you think walking downhill is easy then youhave not had a morning out on the section ofWilliam Cox’s first road over the Blue Mountainsbuilt from the top of Mount York in 1815. Dueto the excessive gradient of this section of the101 ½ mile roadway its usage became obsoletenot long after Governor Lachlan Macquariemade a Tour of Inspection shortly after itscompletion. Although suffering severely fromerosion there are still excellent extant examplesof road construction remaining especially wherethe route passed over rocky terrain so that thewalk arranged by the Blue Mountains branch ofthe National Trust allowed us to experience thedifficulties encountered by the early Bathurstpioneers. Reaching the bottom of the steepincline the three groups derived muchenjoyment from the soup, bun and wineluncheon complemented with fruit.

This month I attended two reunions: myold high school Patrician BrothersFairfield’s 61st and one of my old rugby

league football clubs, Cabramatta’s 95th aswell as my grandson Dylan turning five! So Ireally feel just how life is marching forward.

Looking for Flight Mh-370At the Cumberland Group of Surveyors dinnermeeting we had Pat McNamara (a 1978 UNSWgraduate, like me) delight us with the winningresult of the Association of Consulting Surveyorsover the Office of Land and Property Informationafter a 15-year titanic legal battle to finally getroyalty payments made to surveyors for anyDeposited Plans sold by the titling authority. Thenext speaker, Alex Cowdery from Fugro’s Sydneyoffice brought us up to date with his firm’s IndianOcean aerial reconnaissance in search of themissing flight Mh-370 with the bad news thatstill no one has any idea where it lies.

New Video StarsWhen Kerima-Gae accepted an invitation totake part in a commercial for the NewingtonArmory Heritage Train Tour as a seniors cardholder she offered my services as well eventhough I do not hold such an entitlement. Theproduction team was so impressed by ourunrehearsed and unscripted performances thatwithin the two-minute video K-G and I featuremost prominently for the pleasure andattraction of any who may access the ad onthe Armory website.

Surveyors Week in Washington StateAs an Honorary Member of the Land SurveyorsAssociation of Washington I was the proudest

surveyor in the Southern Hemispherewhen the Washington Governor, theHonourable Jay Inslee proclaimed thatfrom 16-22 March 2014 would be “LandSurveyor’s Week.”

The very official looking testimonialwas full of praise and appreciation for themore than 45,000 US professionalsurveyors expressing the vitally importantrole filled by our colleagues in the USA aswell as urging all people of the state tojoin in this special observance. With suchan esteemed recognition of landsurveyors in North America it was timelythat our own Institution of SurveyorsNSW conducted a day and a halfworkshop at a Coogee Beach hotel (ofcourse!) to formulate a Strategic Plan toensure that we meet the needs of ourmembership in addition to improvingrelationships with other affiliated

Our columnist hasbeen busy withtrips to reunions, anot-so-easydownhill walk andan agricultural fieldday that took inAustralia’s mostendangeredmarsupial, theTasmanian Devil.

Reunions, Surveyor’s Week and a steep walk

Below: two rare breeds.

• John Brock is a Registered Surveyor inAustralia and is a stalwart of FIG and itsPermanent Institution for the Art and History ofSurveying.

Legal Notes


the District Court’s judgement), Judge Lourieconcluded that all of the claims at issue are patent-ineligible, quoting from Mayo CollaborativeServices v Prometheus Laboratories, Inc (2012),where, in the majority’s view, a court must first:

“identify the abstract idea represented in theclaim,” and then determine “whether the balanceof the claim adds ‘significantly more.’” The majorityconcluded that the petitioner’s claims “draw on theabstract idea of reducing settlement risk byeffecting trades through a third-party intermediary.”

The use of a computer to maintain, adjust,and reconcile shadow accounts added nothingof substance to the abstract idea.

The Court gave examples where the Courtrejected as ineligible patent claims involving analgorithm for converting binary coded decimalnumerals into pure binary form. The Court heldthat the claimed patent was “in practical effect .. . a patent on the algorithm itself.” Forexample in Parker v. Flook , (1978), it was heldthat a mathematical formula for computing“alarm limits” in a catalytic conversion processwas also a patent-ineligible abstract idea.

There never has been a patent for an ideaand in the case of Alice v CLS the US SupremeCourt has confirmed that an invention, which“simply provides the formula, or manner, inwhich to use an electronic intermediary toexchange obligations as a way to hedgeagainst the risk of loss”, is abstract, andtherefore unpatentable.

In The UK and EU the following extractsshow that computer programs are notpatentable. In The Patent Act 1977 (as amendedup to 1 June 2014) there is a description ofitems which are not, as such, patentable:

S1(2) ‘It is hereby declared that the following(among other things) are not inventions for thepurposes of this Act, that is to say, anythingwhich consists of . . .’

(b) a scheme, rule or method for performing amental act, playing a game or doing business, ora program for a computer;

The European Patent Convention (EPC) of1973, Article 52, paragraph 2, excludes frompatentability, in particular:

3. schemes, rules and methods for performingmental acts, playing games or doing business,and programs for computers; presentations ofinformation.”

My conclusion is that, at last, the non-patentability of computer programs has beenaccepted in the US and brings the US onto asimilar footing as the EU and UK law.

The Alice Corp v CLS Bank International caserested on whether software is patentableor not. The applicable US law on patents is

the US Code Title 35 Part II chapter 10. Whereparagraph 101 of that Code states:

‘ Whoever invents or discovers any new and usefulprocess, machine, manufacture, or composition ofmatter, or any new and useful improvementthereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject tothe conditions and requirements of this title.’

This requires an interpretation of ‘new’, ‘useful’,‘process’, ‘improvement’. In short, each of thewords in paragraph 101 requires definitions. I amunsure why that particular paragraph is so heavyon interpretation but I draw inspiration fromGeorge Orwells’ ‘Nineteen eightyfour’ where:

‘You asked me once, what was in Room 101. Itold you that you knew the answer already.Everyone knows it. The thing in Room 101 is theworst thing in the world.’

According to Julie Samuels1: ‘ Thursday’s [19thJune 2014] opinion in Alice v. CLS Bank [No.13–298. Argued March 31, 2014 – decided June19, 2014] was the most important (or at least themost newsworthy) of the half-dozen patent casesthis term. With this ruling, the Supreme Courtsent a strong message about what is and is notpatentable, moving us away from the problem ofoverbroad, poor-quality software patents.’ Thisbegs the question of ‘why?’

According to Judge Sotomayer in theprevious Appeal hearing, the answer isdecidedly simple. ‘ I adhere to the view that any“claim that merely describes a method of doingbusiness does not qualify as a ‘process’ under§101.” Bilski v Kappos, 561 U.S. 593, 614 (2010)(Stevens, J., concurring in judgment); see also Inre Bilski, 545 F. 3d 943, 972 (CA Fed. 2008) (Dyk,J., concurring) (“There is no suggestion in any ofth[e] early [English] consideration of processpatents that processes for organizing humanactivity were or ever had been patent-able”). As inBilski, however, I further believe that the methodclaims at issue are drawn to an abstract idea.’

The question presented to the court waswhether these claims (by Alice Corporation)were patent eligible under US law, or wereinstead drawn to a patent-ineligible abstractidea. In particular, the claims were designed tofacilitate the exchange of financial obligationsbetween two parties by using a computersystem as a third-party intermediary.

In the Federal Court of Appeal (which reversed

(‘Was Alice reallyin Wonderland,was it all a dreamor… was it doneby software?’)Are computerprogramspatentable? Itseems that finallythe US has decidedto follow the sameprecedents andlaws as Europe andthe UK. But notbefore gettingthere via a stringof cases, explainsCarl Calvert.

• Carl Calvert MA MScPgDLaw FRICS CITP MBCS,is the sole principal ofCalvert Consulting,specialising in Boundarylitigation. He also lecturespart-time in GIS law.www.calvertconsulting.co.ukEmail: [email protected] 023 8086 4643.

When is software NOT patentable? – US Supreme Court case clarifies the lawBy Carl Calvert

1. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/

PRODUCTS & SERVICES


eCognition v 9.0Trimble has announced a newversion of its eCognition softwaresuite. Version 9.0 providesincreased value for remotesensing and GIS experts byimproving current workflows aswell as opening newopportunities inside and outsideits known domains. By extendingversion 9.0 with spatial andcontextual GIS data modellingcapabilities, vector data can bemanaged and processed moreefficiently. The new versionintroduces computer vision basedobject detection capabilities,which complements the existingknowledge-based and supervisedclassification modules.

Viva UnlimitedLeica has launched the Viva GNSSUnlimited series of future-proofGNSS receivers and smartantennas. Offering a flexibledesign, the sensors can be easily

upgraded for maximumperformance whenever needed.The Viva GNSS range now fullysupports the Chinese BeiDounavigation system. It can evenprovide BeiDou-only andGlonass-only high-precisionpositioning. The series includes afuture upgrade to a GNSS boardwith more than 500 channels toserve users’ needs beyond 2020.Outages of real-time kinematic(RTK) communication links arebridged for up to 10 minuteswith the SmartLink correctionservice delivered via satellite.

UAV with RTKMini-drone manufacturer senseFlyhas released the eBee RTK, anintegrated, fully compatiblesurvey-grade mapping system.The eBee RTK works alongsidecustomers’ existing base stationsor using a virtual base stationand does not require any third-party software. “The eBee RTK

offers surveying and engineeringprofessionals the very highestpositional accuracy, without theneed for ground control points.”says Jean-Christophe Zufferey,CEO of senseFly.

Extra fine SARMDA has launched a new imagingmode for RADARSAT-2. This Extra-Fine mode provides anunprecedented ability to captureexceptional resolution imagery overlarge areas, providing a capabilitythat is ideally suited to supportmonitoring of large areas coupledwith identifying detailed changes.The Extra-Fine imaging mode isable to provide single polarizationsynthetic aperture radar (SAR)imagery at a 5 metre resolutionover a 125 km × 125 km area.

Upgrade formonitoring softwareThe latest version of Trimble’sdeformation monitoring software,4D Control version 4.3, featuresnew optional monitoringapplications: the High Rise App,the SeismoGeodetic App and theTrimble 4D Control Site Setup Appfor Trimble Access, all to betteranalyze data communicated froma broad range of GNSS, optical,geotechnical, seismic, atmosphericand metrological sensors.

Version 4.3 includes adedicated page to support thefunctionality of the High Rise Appand Composite Views forcombining charts, plots and otherdisplays. High-frequency charts,comparative bar charts, tabularand windrose analysis as well as anew visualization tool designatedfor in-place inclinometers and tiltmeter arrays, are all ways toexamine complex data and presentfindings in a meaningful way.

The High Rise App is intendedto monitor high rise structuresduring construction using GNSSand inclination sensors. Integrated

processing of GNSS, total stationand inclination data deliversprecise and reliable coordinateson demand for stake-out jobs onstructures subject to tilt such astowers and high rise buildings.

The SeismoGeodetic Appintegrates the advantages of highprecision GNSS data and highfrequency strong motion data.The data from co-located GNSSreceivers and Trimble REF TEKstrong motion accelerometers cannow be processed in anintegrated approach resulting inhigh precision 3D positions up toa sample rate of 500 Hz.

The Trimble 4D Control SiteSetup App allows the user tocreate, enhance or modify a totalstation site setup for Trimble 4DControl using a Trimble fieldcontroller. Once the site setup hasbeen transferred to the controller,round measurements can beperformed immediately withoutthe need to run the Site Setupfunctionality on the server.

Professional gradeUAV mapping systemApplanix Corp and AmericanAerospace Advisors Inc (AAAI)have developed a longendurance, professional gradeUAV mapping system for civilianapplications such as pipelinemonitoring, power line surveysand emergency responsemapping, without the need forground control points or aerialtriangulation. This follows aseries of successful test flights ofAAAI’s RS-16 Unmanned AircraftSystem equipped with Applanix’DMS-UAV aerial photogrammetrypayload with commerciallyavailable inertial technology.

STAR*NET 8STAR*NET 8 has been releasedand includes over 3800predefined coordinate systemsworldwide, plus a new custom

With Leica Geosystems has introduced its next generation mobilemapping platform, the Pegasus:Two. The unit has six horizontalcameras plus optional rear view and skyward cameras plus a singlehigh-speed terrestrial laser scanner, which can deliver geospatialdata in a 360° spherical view. The platform uses Novatel’s latestProPak6 high precision GNSS receiver which tracks signals of allavailable constellations plus a low noise, 200hz IMU (inertialmeasurement unit). It also has an external timing output andtrigger signal for use with a variety of additional sensors, from athermal camera, to ground penetrating radar, sonar, or even apollution monitor. The External Trigger feature synchronises time-stamping and users’ coordinate data with one click.

The Pegasus:Two comes with a rechargeable 11 hour batteryand can be used on any moving platform. The accompanyingsoftware offers semi-automatic object extraction features, whichenables GIS metadata extraction or calculation of distances on-the-fly directly into ArcGIS.

The Pegasus:Two arrives

senseFly’seBee RTK

mini-drone.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES


coordinate system editor whichsupports datum transformationand projection types notpreviously supported. The softwarealso includes direct support forselecting .bin or .byn geoidmodels. The STAR*Leica DBXconversion utility is now able toconvert resection data, and toconvert sets of angles data usingeither the average of each set (asbefore) or using all shots.

Leica Zeno plusLeica Geosystems has releasedthe Zeno CS25 plus and CS25GNSS plus, the next generation ofits 7” tablet computer for GISdata collection. By using a fasterprocessor and doubling the sizeof both RAM and on-boardstorage, both handheld tabletsoffer significantly improvedoverall performance. A higherresolution camera and fastercommunication capabilities willspeed up asset collection andmanagement.

Monitoring concretecracksKansai Construction SurveyCompany and Leica Geosystemshave released the KUMONOSsystem, a crack monitoring systemusing the Leica Viva TS11 totalstation. The system allows users toaccurately measure and monitorcrack widths of tunnels, bridges,dams or building façades from asafe distance without scaffoldingor elevated work platforms. TheTS11 is supplied with a built-inconcentric crack scale reticle.Crack widths are calculated fromthe relation of the distancebetween the crack and theinstrument and the gauge numberthat is found by positioning thescale mark over the crack.

Global Mapper SDK Blue Marble Geographics hasannounced the release of asoftware development kit (SDK)version 15.2 for its GlobalMapper software. This interimrelease features a significantimprovement in the organisationand quantity of online data, newfunctionality for transformingLiDAR point clouds, and supportfor several new 3D model filetypes. The software provides aWindows DLL, which allows

developers to include much ofthe functionality of GlobalMapper within their ownapplications.

Faro upgrades Faro has released a new version oftheir laser scanning software,SCENE 5.3, and scan data hosting-service, SCENE WebShare Cloud1.5. The software, for use with theFocus3D X Series laser scanner,delivers scan registration byeliminating artificial targets, suchas spheres and checkerboards.Users can choose from twoavailable registration methods:‘Top-View’-based or ‘Cloud-to-Cloud’. ‘Top View’-basedregistration allows for target-lesspositioning of scans. In interiorsand in built-up areas withoutreliable GPS pre-positioning of theindividual scans, this represents ahighly efficient and largelyautomated method.

The second method, ‘Cloud-to-Cloud’ registration, opens upnew opportunities for the user toposition scans quickly andaccurately, even under difficultconditions. In exterior locationswith good pre-positioning of thescans, by means of the integratedGPS receiver of the Laser ScannerFocus3D X Series, this is themethod of choice for target-lessregistration.

BRIEFS

Altus Positioning Systems haslaunched the APS-NR2 RTKsurveying receiver. Previewed atthe 2014 GEO Business event inLondon May 28-29, the APS-NR2provides a powerful combinationof high GNSS RTK performance,light weight, low powerconsumption, versatile Quad-band modem, remote web-basedaccess and connectivity withEsri’s cloud-based platform.

Leica Geosystems has added a3D viewer, enhancedvisualisation and extendedfunctionality to its iCONstructconstruction surveyingsoftware. iCONstruct field v2.0improves and optimisesworkflows of foremen andsupervisors, helping them toincrease productivity andefficiency. The new iCON

telematics option connects tolayout crews in the field andallows online file exchange andremote support.

A new version of Trimble’sBusiness Center introduces newcoordinate reference systems andan optional Advanced Draftingmodule, enabling faster projectturnaround and better decisionmaking. Also included is theability to create 3D PDFdeliverables so that teammembers and clients cancollaborate easily from anycomputer or mobile device.

Leica Geosystems now offersthe iCON CC55 controller, aversatile and rugged PDA witha 3.5” colour display to itsiCON construction portfolio.The handheld easily controlsLeica sensors and runs theiCONstruct field software. Thecontroller has QuadraClearsunlight readable display anda fast 1GHz processor.

Leica Geosystems has introduced asecurity label for its range of

original accessories. The label –featuring a unique code – will helpcustomers to identify quicklywhether an accessory is genuine.

Topcon Positioning Group hasreleased the MAGNET Field GISsoftware kit designed for fielddata collection, navigation andmaintenance tasks.

Hexagon Metrology has releasedthe latest version of 3DReshaper2014. Improvements include ascript language to automaterepetitive tasks as well as newcommands like unroll tunnel, stitchmeshes, extract breaking lines, etc.The software is offered as acomplimentary solution for use withthe Leica Nova MS50 Multistation.

Visual Intelligence hasannounced that its iOneSoftware Sensor Tool KitArchitecture (iOne STKA) isavailable for purchase orlicensing by manufacturers ofUAVs that want to deliver ahigh resolution integratedUAV/geospatial imagingsolution to customers.

GeoMoS goes to the web

Leica GeoMoS Now! is a new web-based application that enableson-the-go visualisation and analysis of structural and groundmovement monitoring data. Large volumes of geodetic andgeotechnical data are now easier to handle with simplifiedworkflows using automatic configuration and distribution toolsthat quickly notify users of any changes in data.

GW Classified Recruitment


G W R E C R U I T M E N T

AGI p.19

KOREC inside front cover

Intergeo p.15

Leica Geosystems p.04

PV Publications: Training p.27

Survey Review p.39

Topcon Great Britain Ltd back cover

University of Glasgow p.39

ADVERTISERS’INDEX

GEOMATICS SURVEYORSGEOMATICS SURVEYORS

Atlantic Geomatics, one of the largest geospatial consultancies in the North of

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SURVEYORSSURVEYORS

The successful candidate will need a minimum 5 years’ experience carrying

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UNDERGROUND UTILITY SURVEYORSUNDERGROUND UTILITY SURVEYORS


out utility surveys and must be conversant with Ground Penetrating Radar and

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SURVEY TECHNICIANSSURVEY TECHNICIANS


out topographical surveys and a good understanding of both GPS and Total

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Plowman Craven is one of the largest measurement survey companies in the UK. We are currently seeking Surveyors to join our expanding business, working on prestigious projects as diverse as Royal Palaces to HS2.

We currently have a number of opportunities for surveying personnel within our BIM Group based from Harpenden and our

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based Surveyor role, we are ideally seeking a candidate with monitoring experience. A positive and proactive approach to work and excellent communication and organisation skills are required for all roles.

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t h e t r u s t e d n a m e i n m e a s u r e m e n t

Plowman Craven Limited

141 Lower Luton Road,Harpenden, Herts, AL5 5EQ+44 (0) 1582 765566

33A Clerkenwell GreenLondon, EC1R 0DU+44 (0) 20 7490 7700

[email protected] www.plowmancraven.co.uk/recruitment

Plowman CravenGeomatics Surveyors

go to. . .

www.pvpubs.com/Jobsfor more Job Vacancies

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